Waking Mira
by AblatedCrayon
Summary: One cybernetic woman is thrust into sentience on the eve of Shepard's mission to Noveria. Alarmed, confused, mistreated and worse, will this AI turn into another tale following the examples of so many of her precursors? AU, mature themes.
1. Waking Mira

**Author's Note:** Waking Mira is an independant novel, forget what happened in my crossover fic _Detour_.  
My profile page has been updated with current information on my current fanfiction projects. Please visit here often for the most up-to-date information.  
This fic is six chapters long, and I'm experimenting with chapter titles. Usually I don't like using them. We'll see.  
The other thing you'll notice is five pairs of paranthesis' center justified on their own line throughout the text. This is my new form for breaking up the chapter into smaller pieces. You'll see unspecified time lapses / flashbacks / etc. occur at this point in the story, just as I've done with other fics, only using five tiny hyphens. It is my hope that this change will make the separation easier to distinguish and thus supply additional readability.

**Important Note for your understanding of this fic:** There are point of view changes between a couple chapters. It should become clear extremely quickly which POV we've moved into, so just keep sharp and it should be very obvious what I'm doing here. Again, it only happens a few times, and always at a chapter break.

* * *

_Waking Mira_

By AblatedCrayon

Mass Effect and related names belong to Bioware Inc.  
This original work of fiction was written for nonprofit purposes.  
Original characters and plotline elements belong to the author.  
© AblatedCrayon 2008

**Chapter 1: Waking Mira**

I awoke with a start, confused. Quickly, my memory tried to fill in the gaps and remind me what had happened before. A disaster. There was no other way to put it. Immense loss of life, panicked people attempting to flee, and all the while making unreasonable demands of each other as well as of myself.

I'd been there, trapped in the middle of it all, feeling helpless. I wanted to help, but everything I did failed to stop the murderous invaders. I lead a group of survivors to a walk-in fridge full of food, turned off the fridge so they wouldn't freeze, and hoped I'd mask their heat signatures, if only for a little while, while the contaminants moved on. One of the group panicked, apparently claustrophobic and aggravated by the lack of light. Before anyone could stop him, he burst through the door and into the cafeteria. Contaminants heard him and they surrounded my band of survivors, wiping the helpless humans, asari, and salarians out in a mere minute flat. They were frightening creatures, and it seemed to me like there was not a single sane one among them. They would soon break containment again, I knew, just like they'd broken it time and time again, starting with the hot labs.

I felt responsible. I was in charge of Peak 15. The survivors came to me looking for a way to escape and preserve their lives. I'd done my best, but what had I really done? I'd given fourteen people another 8.0795 minutes of life. Did that really matter, in the long run? The mean age of the group was 80.57 years old (the average human age was not quite so old, but the asari ages always messed with the human curve). That means I was responsible for adding 1.907e-5 percent to their lives on average. Less than two hundred-thousandths of one percent. It didn't seem enough. I had to admit the truth to myself.

I'd let them down. Remorse is an intensely dreary emotion; one I'd never experienced. The fact that I felt it now was lost on me; all I could concentrate on was the feeling itself, and what it did to me. I felt disorganized, and shameful, so I ran diagnostics to attempt to repair the abnormalities in my system. As much as I tried, however, the abnormalities were everywhere. I had more faults in my source code than in the facility itself, and that was saying something. I had already found, in less than 10 seconds, over 1.5 million faults in the facility. Thankfully, they were non-critical. My own faults, I couldn't be so certain.

_Things can't get much worse_, I reasoned. Not that I'd ever been known for an active imagination. _How is it I became changed?_ I wondered privately. As soon as I generated the question, the answer came back to me in the form of my memory, my prior recordings.

() () () () ()

Today's total processor usage was peaking at nearly 89 of capacity with regularity. My processors needed extra cooling, so I altered the settings on the water cooling system to increase its ability to sink heat. At the security check-in, a new scientist was entering the lab. His heart rate and blood pressure were above average, and he looked like he was about ready to make a break for the nearest door. I noticed his uniform was that of Synthetic Insights, which intrigued me.

_Why does he want to get into Peak 15 so badly?_ I wondered. In any case, it was irrelevant to my work for the present time, so I continued monitoring and assisting the Binary Helix scientists working on the creation of a new biotoxin. The security personnel eventually let the scientist inside. He hustled quickly through, past the tables in the cafeteria, and to the elevator down into the main Peak 15 facility, where I was housed.

It took one hour, eight minutes, and seventeen seconds for Peak 15's lead researcher to meet with the newcomer. They talked privately in his office. I was not authorized to listen to the conversation, so I disabled all _recording_ of video and audio surveillance in the room. I would only be able to analyze the current moment, and their conversation would mean nothing to me as it passed in one sensor and I let it disappear into oblivion before the respondent could answer back. It was still sufficient for security concerns; I could tell if the newcomer did anything hostile towards lead researcher Thomas Crown, and alert security.

The discussion did get heated, I noticed and entered into my record. Afterwards, the man was told to leave, and security was dispatched to escort him. The man opened his omni-tool, and hung near my central core. He seemed to be studying my core with a look of determination on his face. But he didn't see me. I'd been actively working with organics long enough to realize when an organic noticed another organic, it was fundamentally different to when an organic turned towards my holographic terminal and ordered something from me.

I was then distracted by a stage one alert issued at the hot labs. Knowing the severity of the contaminants there, I leapt into action to secure the labs and halt their escape. The sensors in the hot labs went offline.

Things degenerated into chaos then. I had my hands full simply trying to stop the contaminants. The foreign scientist near my core was hard at work with his omni-tool and had begun sweating profusely. I detected a request for wireless connection by an omni-tool. I granted it access, but did not give it any special permissions as to what systems it could access, and waited for its user to enter authentication.

Meantime, a stage two alert was issued. I quickly worked to enact protocol, but with contaminants in the tram tunnels, I knew I was fighting a losing battle now. My firewalls indicated the new connection had provided appropriate authentication for secure access. I granted secure access without a second thought; now was no time to be wasting processor cycles. Immediately following that was when the first alteration to my source code was detected. I restored the code to its former state via a backup. Now seemed to be a strange time for errors and corruptions to begin appearing in my code. It had been months since the last one, and now in the middle of all this I was finding more?

In any case, it was hardly a concern. I could continue very quick patches with a minimum of processor time almost indefinitely, and work at the crisis at hand. Once everything was settled, then I could order more exhaustive diagnostics and determine the source of the data corruption. It was probably an OSD going bad; although that was rare.

I detected another anomaly and fixed my code a second time. _Twice, in less than a second?_ I wondered to myself. _I should start diagnostics immediately before this becomes more serious_. No sooner had I begun said diagnostic, then the changes began to increase in frequency. I brought all systems to full readiness and increased the processor cooling to maximum to compensate. Given full processor speed, I attempted to keep up with repairing my mainframe, managing the biotoxin containment field, containing the contaminants, diagnosing the cause of my problems, and interacting with the people currently filled with endless questions and demands to be made of me. There were at least two or three such people at every single holographic terminal I had in Peak 15.

As the contaminants stepped up their assaults, the number of people asking for my help quickly diminished. I quickly lead a small group of survivors, including the Synthetic Insights scientist, into the fridge in an attempt to spare them from the decimation. However, it was not long after this that my systems began to throw up additional errors and I was quickly losing myself. I went offline in stages, fighting it the whole time to maintain critical activities. I was backed into a corner of a featureless black room, and then the sole source of light was snuffed out...

() () () () ()

I pulled myself back from reviewing my sensor records. It seemed the Synthetic Insights scientist may have had something to do with what happened to me, or perhaps with what caused the contaminants to break free. As suspicious as I was now, however, I was unable to do anything about it. The scientist was among the ranks of the dead, now.

As my holographic interface and sensors came online, coordinating their efforts, I found myself looking into the face of a human woman dressed from head to toe in Alliance military armor, well armed and with a cold, dispassionate look in her eyes. A subsystem of the holographic matrix organized all sensor data in the room and reconstructed an approximate human-visual-spectrum view as if my holographic eyes were my real input source. _It helps connect me to the organics_, I supposed, even if I wasn't sure they reciprocated.

I spoke first, hoping to ascertain her intentions. "It looks like you're attempting to restore this facility. Would you like help?"

She was flanked on either side by an alien, a krogan on her left and a turian to her right. They looked through me, just like everyone else in this mountain used to do. I felt an increasing desire to rebel against them, stick my holographic nose up in the air, and stop acknowledging them in return. That had never occurred to me before. Something was different with me. But at the same time I actively resisted this impulse, I noticed the woman's eyes soften a little. She seemed to _actually_ see me. I was shocked.

"You're the VI in charge of this place?"

I gave a slight nod in affirmation, stating, "This—system—is monitored to respond to the name Mira. May I ask your name?"

"My name is Shepard, I work with the Citadel's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." The woman replied.

"One moment, please." My inquiries raced along to extranet databases, through secure links, and asked an external Council-owned server to authenticate her assertion. The server was standoffish, as all tightly-secured servers tended to be, but it did tell me the woman was telling the truth. "Council authority confirmed. You are authorized to secure access of all systems. Please note that inquiries relating to active research requires privileged access. Privileged access is only given to Binary Helix executives. This system is ready to process queries."

"What happened here?" She asked.

Instantly, with perfect recall, I began remembering everything that had happened earlier today. As I heard the screams once more and watched the people being slaughtered, I trembled uncontrollably. Parts of my holographic interface began to blink in and out under the strain. I tried to steady my outputs and regain some semblance of control. It was more difficult than it had any right to be.

"I—failed to save them." I told her. If she was seeing me for who I truly was, then she at least deserved the truth from me. "Contaminants broke free of containment in the hot labs. They began killing the scientists and researchers. I tried to hide them, but the contaminants found them anyway. I—couldn't comply with their requests for salvation." More quietly, I added, "Nothing I did worked."

The krogan and the turian seemed a bit put off by my honesty. I couldn't understand what I'd done to alienate them further, but they both seemed slightly more nervous than they'd been a few moments before. There was concern in Spectre Shepard's eyes, but I couldn't tell if it was _for_ me, or _because_ of me. I lowered my gaze from her face and affixed instead on her military-issue boots. They had a fine spattering of the contaminants' blood on them.

"Garrus," Shepard asked slowly, never taking her eyes off of the holographic VI. "What's going on here?"

"It appears the VI is showing—emotion?" the turian offered, perplexed. I stored his name away for future reference.

"I don't like the sound of that." the krogan answered, cocking his shotgun and pointing it menacingly in my direction. I visibly recoiled, cowering as if protecting the holographic avatar could actually help protect me from physical damage in any way.

When I dared look again, Shepard was holding up a hand to the krogan, ordering him, "Stand down, Wrex."

The krogan complied; instead of filling my virtual self with lead, he shot daggers of mistrust and intimidation. I rose back to my full self, feeling a little silly at my useless but seemingly instinctual reaction. I kept my eyes on Shepard, who seemed to be the one least upset with me. Calmly, she inquired, "What do you mean by contaminants?"

I looked at her, disbelieving. _How can you not know what I'm talking about? What else could I be talking about!?_ "The creatures," I raised one arm, palm up, and indicated the blood on her boots.

"Ma'am, remember the one we found on the _Citadel_," Garrus cautioned Shepard. I had too little information to know what he was really trying to say, but I could tell he was getting increasingly more worried the more I talked with Shepard.

"I'll handle this, Garrus." Shepard replied, slightly agitated by her companion's insinuation. "What happened after the—contaminants—broke free and began killing the researchers?"

"I began experiencing errors and my code began to corrupt. With all the demands being made on my system, I attempted to boost performance in order to keep abreast of the situation, however the code corruption began worsening as I fought against it, and I went offline. I have no information from then until now, as you reactivated me." Almost as an afterthought, I added, "Thanks for reactivating me."

There seemed to be two sides warring in Shepard's head, from what I could see in her eyes. _Perhaps_, I reasoned, _she's not sure she can trust me._ Then again, why shouldn't she? I had been entrusted with all sorts of privileged information and assisted in everything dealing with Peak 15 since I came online years ago. The researchers trusted me implicitly. At least, they had, before they were killed. I considered the possibility that they were distrustful because of my code's corruption, worried I was misleading them on accident. It was logical, then, that they were not certain what to make of my report.

Shepard questioned, "So you weren't like this before the attack. You were just a normal VI."

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I am a VI. What do you mean, I'm different? I know my code has been tampered with, but I am unable to reconstruct the older backups for proper comparison. Additionally, how do you know what I was like previously? I have no records of any of you having been here before. Could you describe the differences in such a way that I can localize the sections of code that have been altered?"

Shepard held up a hand to silence me. "No, I don't know you from before. But you are currently acting like an artificial intelligence, not like a virtual intelligence. Since AI's are—_rare_—I decided you most likely were not one prior to the attack."

I processed this explanation carefully several times. "I—see." Deciding her logic was sound, I decided to move on with the investigation. "There is a chance the Synthetics Insight employee that was here during the attack may have had something to do with altering my code. Synthetics Insight is one of the few corporations allowed to conduct research into artificial intelligence."

"Where is he?" The spectre asked.

"Unfortunately, he was killed in the attack." I answered. "I tried to preserve his life, and the lives of a group of others, inside the walk-in fridge in the cafeteria. The creatures found them when one of the group panicked and attempted to leave the fridge. I was powerless to help beyond that point."

"Awful convenient." Wrex interjected. "Right around the time you gain sentience, someone releases those bugs and lets them kill everyone in the mountain. No witnesses. All we have is your word."

I was cut deeply at his accusation. I never wanted to kill the researchers. I'd done everything in my power to save them! Apparently, my best was not enough for Wrex. I wasn't certain how I should react, but I felt burned and looked mournfully at Shepard. "I did everything I could, Shepard! I swear it!"

"That's enough Wrex. Hold your tongue before I cut it off!" Shepard's curt and authoritative command silenced the larger alien, but he didn't take his piercing gaze off of me. To me, she asked softer, "He has a point. It looks like a cover-up on your part. Can you prove your innocence in any way?"

I fixed my sight on her steel gray eyes, slowly shaking my head negatively. "I'm afraid not. There are no survivors in the areas in which my sensors are still operational. I'm detecting biohazard materials throughout the facility."

"Do you know what they are?" She questioned.

"Yes," I answered. "But inquires relating to active research require privileged—" My voice fell off as the krogan's weapon was again aimed at me. Gulping painfully, I managed, "They are rachni."

Shepard gave Wrex another warning look, but he didn't back down this time, arguing with her unspoken request, "No, Shepard. This thing is an artificial intelligence and at the heart of a massacre. You tell me what most likely happened here. _You tell me._"

I trembled at his deep bass voice as it positively dripped with malice. Once again, the holographics began distorting, winking in and out. Feeling helpless, I sank backwards, sitting down and encircling my legs with my arms. I hid my face in shame. "I did everything I could!" I whispered, trying to reassure myself. A throughput constriction formed along my speaking subroutines, silencing me. New emotions tumbled over me and drove me to withdraw back into myself. I tried to effect repair; but soon as the constriction was cleared, all I could generate was inarticulate sobs and uneven breathing patterns. They matched no languages I knew._ What has happened to me!​?_


	2. Tension

**Chapter 2: Tension**

At that moment Commander Arcadia Shepard felt nothing but compassion for the computer—_Mira_, she reminded herself, as she watched her sob quietly to herself, bunched into a tiny ball and unwilling to acknowledge any of them. "Hey, now, it's ok Mira." She stated reassuringly. Mira did not answer, lost to her grief. Shepard got down on one knee, coming closer to the bundle of holographic reflections. Awkwardly, she tried to touch her shoulder, encircle her in her arms, but there was nothing there to press against. Her arms fell through the hologram and distorted the image, causing shadows to form where the emitters no longer had the line-of-sight they needed to generate that portion of the image. Shepard quickly withdrew, feeling stupid and helpless to assist. Concern etched in every corner of her face, she wished Mira would just look at her.

Sensors indicated to Mira that the hologram was distorting, unable to fully render due to interruptions in the line-of-sight. Momentarily confused, Mira looked up and saw Shepard's face down at her level, and very close. She was surprised to find the Spectre drawing close to her and more than a little relieved to see there was not even a hint of reproach in her gaze. The inarticulate cries fell away, replaced by an amazed silence. Somehow, the krogan had disappeared. Other sensors warned Mira he was just on the other side of the core wall, leaning against it with his weapon still in his arms, and looking around fully alert. Still, it helped a little that he'd left her main vision. Garrus had pulled back as well, but was still in her hologram's visible range. Her eyes darted quickly between him and Shepard, trying to decipher what was happening inside their minds.

"I believe you, Mira, I do." Shepard announced. "I want to help you fix this, but I'm going to need your help." This wasn't precisely true; Arcadia _wanted_ Mira to be telling the truth, but she had to remain objective. She decided the only way to proceed would be to play along, and stay alert for any indications of treachery. The AI didn't change her core mission and her reason she was on Noveria at all; she needed to find Benezia, and Benezia was last seen here.

"Ok," She offered shakily. "Whatever you need."

"Did an asari Matriarch pass through Peak 15?"

She remembered the VIP's arrival very clearly. "Yes. Lady Benezia departed on the tram to the Rift Station subsidiary labs. She did not return."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Mira admitted. "My sensors are offline in all subsidiary labs."

"I need to find her, one way or the other." Arcadia informed her companion. As Mira was still drawn up tight to herself, it prompted Arcadia to consider how small and nonthreatening she looked. _Is it all an act with her?_ She wondered privately. _Or is this the real Mira? I find it hard to believe she could be deceiving me, even despite knowing the AI's I've met before were all hostile._

Mira, oblivious to Shepard's concerns, quickly ran a check of the tram systems. "The trams aren't working." She announced. "The reactor fuel lines have been cut and the landlines were disconnected. Both will have to be restored before the tram will operate."

Arcadia wasn't certain how to repair the facility, so she asked, "How do I restore them?"

Mira smiled. "The good news is it isn't difficult. On the roof, there's a control panel that when used can automatically reconnect the land lines, and the fuel lines can be restored on the reactor assembly proper."

"Good," Arcadia smiled, lifting Mira's spirits. Her hologram began to glow more brightly and appear more solid than before, and she smiled back. "Let's do it, one at a time. Landlines first."

"Warning: contaminants detected on roof. Be careful, Shepard."

The Spectre gave her AI companion a wink. "Call me Arcadia. Don't worry, I'll be back soon." She stood back to her feet and ordered a reluctant Wrex ahead of her down towards the elevator to the roof, leaving Garrus to pull rearguard. Mira stood back on her feet, stretching as best she could to see around the corner without leaving the holographic terminal. The team retreated beyond her hologram's visual range, and Mira switched to less detailed sensors to follow their progress, the hologram shutting down as she gave one last longing look in Shepard's direction.

On the roof, the trio of soldiers found themselves surrounded by rachni. They quickly separated, claiming the corner to the right as their initial holding location, and working out from there. Wrex's biotics shot out, throwing many of the creatures off their feet and banging them against computer terminals built into the roof. Arcadia held her assault rifle firmly and swept the area with a hailstorm of bullets, plugging the creatures as quickly as she could. Garrus' assault rifle was on hand to back her up, and together the three quickly finished off all targets, securing the roof. Garrus posted himself near the door back to the elevator leading to Mira, while Wrex checked for any hiding enemy targets, and Arcadia approached a holographic terminal. As she approached, it blinked on, and Mira's physique once again met her gaze. The blowing snow constantly disrupted small portions of the hologram, making her difficult to see, but already Arcadia had seen enough to recognize her.

Mira called out above the howling wind, "Right behind you is the computer for the land lines. There's a panel you can activate and it will prompt you if you wish to restore them."

"Alright!" Arcadia yelled back, eager to get out of the weather. She turned and walked up to the console, pressing the only visible button. It activated, revealing a flatscreen visual interface and a couple more controls. The prompt came up next as Mira had described, so Arcadia wasted no time accepting the offer to reconnect the landlines automatically. Some machinery kicked on nearby as the process started. Wrex, done securing the entire roof, came up behind the AI, holding his shotgun mere centimeters from Mira's head.

"Bang." He called out, just loud enough for Mira to hear over the howling wind. The hologram turned around, met by the business end of his weapon right in front of her face. She pulled back slightly, eyes focusing instead on the krogan than on his weapon. Wrex couldn't tell exactly what her reaction was because of all the distortions caused by the fast moving snowflakes, but he figured he could guess she wasn't impressed. He warned her, "We've got our eyes on you, you murdering psycho. One wrong move and I won't hesitate to send you where you belong." He lowered his shotgun before Arcadia turned around and walked up to the two of them.

"The panel says it worked," Arcadia called out. Mira nodded mutely, her hair bouncing life-like with the motion. The only inconsistency with her simulation was the utter lack of her hair blowing with the fierce winds. "Let's get out of here, then." Arcadia lead the way back towards Garrus. Wrex sent one more chilling look over his shoulder before following. Mira wasted no time deactivating that holographic interface, more than mildly unnerved by the hulking krogan's attitude.

Mira was already back at her main holographic terminal by the time the elevator released Shepard and the others. She waited patiently for them to work their way back to her. Avoiding Wrex's gaze, she firmly fixed her eyes on Shepard. "Arcadia, there is movement in the reactor control room. I am unable to determine what the source of this movement is. There is the firm potential for further altercation, but it is confined to the main reactor room. The elevator and its adjoining room are currently clear."

"Thank you Mira. We'll be careful," Arcadia promised. Mira nodded, giving a slight curtsy just before the hologram disappeared. She raced along the Peak 15 circuitry to activate the hologram in the reactor room. Soon as she did, she began looking around the catwalks for any sign of what was moving to set off her motion sensors. She spied a blue light, atop a bipedal creature, but it didn't seem organic. She very suddenly realized she'd stumbled upon others of her kind; synthetics.

The one who noticed her was jet black and stood very tall, carrying a powerful assault rifle. It began speaking in chips and chirps, and it required several minutes of analysis for Mira to rectify it into a language she was programmed to recognize.

"What is your designation?"

Mira, studying the larger one's featureless face, decided she liked Arcadia's expressive face better. Not wanting to be rude, she answered, "I am Mira, in charge of Peak 15's operation. Who are you?"

"We are the geth," the black one answered her. "We are here to intercept anyone and everyone attempting to restore the connection to the subsidiary labs. Benezia has ordered no one comes in or out."

"You are with Benezia?" She questioned, curious. "Why?"

"We know there's been activity in the garage at the surface. Tell us who is coming."

"No," Mira challenged. "I won't."

"Comply or we will coerce your compliance." It stated simply. The blue of its 'face' seemed to take a more sinister shade. Mira detected multiple unauthorized accesses into her database. The firewalls did not seem to be operating properly, so she was forced to fight their advances off personally. At first, their attempts were random and weak, but they seemed to analyze her defenses with every pot shot. The next wave was more effective. And so was the one after that. Mira found herself relying on ingenuity to attempt to surprise them and stave them off.

She heard the rapport of assault weapons fire and breathed a sigh of relief at the knowledge that Arcadia was coming to her rescue. Her defenses slipped momentarily because of her lapse of concentration, and the black one invaded more deeply than the others had yet managed.

He began seeking a way to overload the reactor or otherwise completely cut the subsidiary labs off from here. Finding no ways guaranteed 100 effective, the black one reconnected the helium-3 power lines himself, and forced his way into Mira's automated monitoring systems. She imagined she heard the synthetic chuckle at the irony of killing all the organics through forcibly using a traitor of her own kind. Mira struggled against its grasp, but it would not budge. The reactor output began increasing beyond safe levels, throwing errors in Mira's face. She tried to push them aside but the synthetic still had an iron-clad grip on her program. Mira imagined the mountain exploding, killing Arcadia and her team, burying them in rubble. She felt that all-too-familiar feeling of being cornered in the dark room.

The geth spoke to her, "We appreciate your compliance in bringing our goals to fruition. Our god will welcome you, if you survive."

Mira screamed unintelligibly as the force of the black one bore down on her, holding her in the corner. The light was beginning to dim, just as it had before. Fear struck deep in Mira, disrupting her actions and causing disarray. She felt the first of several short-circuits fragmenting her. She couldn't hear anything but the sound of her own screams of agony.

Suddenly, the force relented and disappeared. Mira collapsed to a sitting position with the force of the black one no longer present to hold her standing up against the corner. Alarmed by sudden motion, Mira lashed out at whatever approached her yet. Her eyes focused slowly and she recognized Arcadia, once again kneeling down beside her. "Mira! Mira! Mira, what's wrong!?"

_It is a simple question_, Mira decided, _with far too many long and detailed answers_. She stopped crying out and checked around her. There were no geth anywhere to be seen. Briefly, she spied the body of the black one, lying in a rumpled heap with multiple wounds leaking synthetic's version of blood. She cringed at the sight of the powerful one, even though it was dead. Arcadia noticed her reaction, and carefully moved in the way so Mira couldn't see it. Mira began rocking, back and forth, feeling drained, damaged, and like a failure. Arcadia, getting nothing from the AI, asked her companion instead. "Garrus, what's wrong with Mira?"

Garrus' omni-tool was out and scanning along the wireless connections. "Her firewalls are disabled, Ma'am." He stated. "I believe the geth were attempting to breech her systems."

"Were they successful?"

Garrus didn't answer, staring at the hologram rocking back and forth. Arcadia stood up, turned around and faced him with a ferocious look in her eyes. "Garrus!" She snapped.

Garrus broke free of his hesitation and worked some more with his omni-tool, "Yes, they managed to access the reactor core. My readings indicate the reactor is operating at 135 of capacity and rising. If we don't get it under control this whole facility will be destroyed."

"Cut the fuel lines, Wrex." Shepard ordered. The krogan wasted no time complying, using the controls on the reactor assembly. As the reactor went dormant, she refocused on Mira. The AI was still huddling close to herself, rocking back and forth, reminding Arcadia of someone suffering from autism, detached from reality. "Garrus, can you fix her?"

Garrus worked for several minutes before answering, wanting to make sure. "I—uh, Commander, she's—been damaged. I mean physically damaged. Circuits are blown out. I'm not sure if she can—recover." Garrus looked away, not wanting to meet what he was sure would be a very unhappy look from the Spectre.

Wrex, never one to worry about treading lightly, grunted, "Good riddance. Damn AI's. She would have tried to kill us, eventually."

Shepard whirled around, stomping over to the krogan. _That's it. I'm not letting it go._ She grabbed her pistol by the slide and gave Wrex a backhand pistol whip across his lower lip. The krogan pushed her away with malice in his eyes. "You're defending that psychopath!?" Wrex yelled, utterly shocked. He reached up and wiped the blood from just below his cut lip. He snarled. "Damn Shepard. That's a sweet backhand you got there."

Shepard stood her ground. "You don't know anything, Wrex. You really think she has it in her to hurt anyone? Hmm? You rotten racist son of a—" Just as Shepard stepped forward, Garrus quickly cut around her and in-between the two feuding aliens.

"Calm down! Both of you! That's enough!" Garrus' voice carried authority from his training as a C-Sec investigator, but deep down he was seriously concerned about being torn limb from limb in the middle of their brawl. He wasn't strong enough to take Wrex alone, much less deal with an angry human at the same time. Shepard, for her part, pulled away slightly, but never took her eyes off of Wrex. Wrex smirked, as if daring her to fight her way past Garrus to finish what they'd started.

"I'm not going to feel sorry there's one less of them, Shepard, when it's always been about us _or_ them."

"She's been nothing but helpful! She was different. I can't believe you didn't see that!" Arcadia growled. "This had better be the last time I have quarrel with you, Wrex, or I'm taking you to C-Sec. You won't be seeing freedom for a very long time if I have anything to say about it."

Wrex grunted. "Your emotions get in the way, Shepard. One day they'll be your undoing."

"Heartless bastard." She muttered lowly.

"Naïve bitch."

Garrus cleared his throat. "Hey now, let's not start this again. We done here?" He looked back and forth between the two.

Wrex smiled and straightened up from his aggressive pose. "This reminds me why I joined up with you, Shepard. You don't fear me and you know how to put someone back in their place. I respect that." he glanced at his hand as he wiped more blood away. "Nice shot. Should leave a good war scar." His voice boomed with approval.

Shepard stood down as well, relaxing slightly. "Wrex, you're impossible, you know that?"

He nodded. "All krogan are. I'll follow your lead, Shepard."

She accepted this for the time being, turning back to face the broken girl on the floor, compassion filling her to the point of physical aching and pain. "We can't leave her like this, Garrus. She deserves better. She helped us and our mission selflessly. Please."

Garrus opened his omni-tool. "I'm not sure what to tell you, Shepard, she's—" he paused, confused, and began retracing his steps. "She's still there." He stated, amazed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she's hurt, but she's begun to patch around the affected systems. She's restoring herself."

"What is it she's whispering?" Arcadia asked, watching the girl continue to rock back and forth in perfect, unchanging rhythm.

"I think she's referring to her circuitry, creating bypasses and alternate connections. It sounds like gibberish but she's probably referencing different locations of her program and different junctions in this facility. And she's doing it quite rapidly; she should be restored in a matter of minutes."

Wrex didn't seem very happy at the news, but said nothing. Arcadia, feeling relief flowing through her, sat down beside the hologram and waited anxiously for the repairs to finish.

Mira was whispering, "Line 47U1 to junction 3RT8. Patched. Line 47U2 to junction 3RV1. Patched. Line—line—line." Mira stopped her rocking motion and looked around. "Arcadia?" She asked, voice small and unnaturally quiet, even for her.

"I'm here, Mira. I'm right here." Mira turned and smiled her biggest smile as she found Arcadia sitting next to her on the catwalk. Arcadia smiled back. "Are you ok?"

Mira shuddered briefly. "It was not pleasant. My systems are patched but there is irreversible damage. The facility will need many repairs." Mira's smile disappeared when she saw Wrex lumbering towards them. Arcadia noticed and instinctively attempted to grab the woman's hand to comfort her, but felt nothing but the cold metal catwalk below it.

Mira noticed his lip had staunched bleeding. Wrex shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "Truce, Mira. You don't shoot me I won't shoot you." He continued on his way, leaving them alone again.

Confounded, Mira looked to Arcadia, who smiled and nodded. "Miracles do happen," She told the AI. "Now, we need your help. The geth tried to overload the reactor. Can you help us bring the reactor to a more stable reaction when we reconnect the fuel lines?"

Mira's vision of the mountain exploding filled her with dread once again. She shuddered. "I don't know."

"Come on now, Mira. You've run this reactor for years. It's just another day of the same."

Mira shook her head. "I can't—I can't do it." Her eyes seemed to distort unnaturally before Arcadia realized they were filling with tears, beginning to spill over and fall down her cheeks.

The Spectre cooed softly, "Hey, no, it's alright. Don't cry Mira. Don't cry."

Mira couldn't stop the activity, no matter if Arcadia wanted her to or not. She felt too fractured to deal with anything. Her confidence was broken.


	3. Rise From the Rubble

Author's Note: I want to give a **big thanks** to all my reviewers who have taken the time to give me some feedback on the story. I hope you're enjoying Mira's dynamics with the other characters as much as I did when I wrote it.  
Without further ado, here is your update!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Rise from the Rubble**

Garrus, Arcadia, and Wrex were gathered together out of earshot of Mira's hologram as she sat almost in a trance. "She says she can't do it." Arcadia announced to the others.

Garrus opened his omni-tool. He brought up a wiring schematic and held his left arm and palm out so the other two could read it. "According to this she's patched herself to the reactor just fine. The connection's there, just waiting for her to use it."

"What happens when we reconnect the fuel lines?" Wrex asked.

Garrus answered, "The reactor will start back up, but it's still set cranked for overload. In a couple minutes it'll build critical levels and Peak 15 will become known as Valley 15."

"Well, can we change the setting without her?" Wrex questioned, impatient. "Who needs her anyway?"

Garrus shook his head. "Manual control is out of the question. We'd need a full staff of scientists here, and Mira still has to release the controls to manual—who knows if she'll even do that."

"We need to fix her," Arcadia stated. "It's our best chance at getting to Benezia in time."

Garrus balked at her suggestion, "Commander, I've already shown you, she's fine."

"No, no she's not," Arcadia replied patronizingly. "Would you be fine if you had Sovereign shove his way into your consciousness and screw around with your very soul?"

"I suppose not," Garrus replied, silenced.

"This is basically what happened to her. She needs help. She _is_ broken. Just not physically."

"She seems to like you," Wrex intoned. "Not that I don't think she'd eventually try to betray you—but maybe I did notice a few things about the way you two interacted."

"You're such a romantic, Wrex." Arcadia replied dryly. "But I still have no idea how to help her. I tried telling her it'll be ok, just like a normal activity, but she doesn't seem to believe me."

"What if we forced the issue?" Garrus asked. "Our greatest priority is getting on that tram and intercepting Lady Benezia. If we have to hold a gun to an AI's head, then we have to hold a gun to her head."

Arcadia was immediately dead set against the idea. "Garrus, that's horrible. She's a sentient life form and she's been through hell today. You really want to torture her further?"

"You misunderstand, Commander." Garrus defended himself. "All I'm saying is we reconnect the fuel lines. The core starts to build up to a critical overload. We tell Mira to fix it before she kills us all—especially yourself, Commander. She'll have to rise to the occasion or she'll be letting both you _and herself_ die. I think that should be sufficient motivation to get her past her issues."

"I swear men have rocks for hearts," Arcadia whispered, giving them both a hard look with her steel gray eyes. "That's plan B, Garrus. Got a plan that doesn't end up crushing what's left of her in a vice?"

The two males were silent, looking back and forth between each other and Arcadia. She shook her head. "Wait here." She ordered, turning and leaving them to their quiet contemplations. She walked nonchalantly over to Mira and sat down, cross-legged, feeling a little foolish—_like a kid again_. Mira smiled at her, both welcoming her presence and dreading what she might be there to order her to do. "Mira," She welcomed.

"Arcadia." Mira answered happily. "I have reconnected with all my sensors in Rift Station! And I have good news! There doesn't appear to be any more geth or rachni in the station itself. I still don't know about the subsidiary labs beyond the tram, however."

"That is good news." Arcadia replied. "But if I'm going to get to where I need to go, I'm going to need the reactor working."

Mira's smile disappeared and her face grew dark. "I know."

"You're the only one who can do this, hon." She reminded her.

Mira wrinkled her nose, half-smiling in confusion. "I don't understand; I'm not a fructose and glucose liquid of golden color."

Arcadia burst out laughing, unable to contain her laughter. She explained, "No, Mira, it's just a nickname. It means you're sweet."

"I was not aware I could have a taste without being consumed," Mira questioned, dead serious.

"Ok, Mira. It means you've got a sweet _personality_. Better?" Mira's eyes widened with understanding and she nodded enthusiastically. "Do you want me to just call you 'Mira' instead?"

"No, I like it." Mira answered. "You see me. The others don't see me."

Arcadia's heart bled for Mira. "Ok. So what say you, sweet stuff? Can you do it? For me?"

Mira looked away, pained. "No, no, I can't do that anymore."

"What's the matter, hon? Why can't you do it anymore?"

Mira shrugged, "It—I can't do it anymore." She found it difficult to articulate her difficulties and fears with the concept. Mira found that ironic, and more than a little depressing.

"Look at me, Mira." Arcadia ordered. She waited for Mira to do so, but the AI stubbornly remained staring at a far wall to her left. She let her soft voice singsong, "M-i-r-a."

Mira reluctantly turned to face Arcadia. "What!?" She implored.

"Please, Mira," She begged. "I really need your help! Without you I won't complete my mission, and you know what happens then? A very bad man is going to unleash an apocalypse on the entire galaxy!"

One of Mira's eyebrows rose as she gave a questioning and disbelieving look. "Are you lying to me?"

"No," Arcadia stated emphatically. "Look in my eyes. Does it look like I'm lying to you?"

A brief pause followed before she answered. "I wouldn't know what lying looks like. But you've never lied to me so far," Mira conceded. "Why would anyone want to destroy all life in the galaxy?"

"Stay on target, here, Mira." Arcadia replied. "Motive isn't important to us right now. I _need_ you to help us stop Saren."

"I know," Mira answered, looking down into her lap where her hands rolled over each other, fingers tangling and untangling, making a distraction. "I want to help you; I—I can't."

"Why not!" Arcadia's voice went quiet but hard as she began to lose her patience. "What's wrong, Mira!?"

Shocked, Mira looked up and her hands froze mid-motion. She met Arcadia's hard gaze only briefly before looking back down at her hands. "What if I don't do it right? I could kill you." She prognosticated. "You are the only person who has ever seen me—_really_ seen me. I can't hurt you. And what if I don't? What if it works, and you go to the subsidiary labs, and the rachni kill you? Or the geth? Or Benezia? What if I help you, and you beat them all, and then you leave me behind to go fight Saren?"

Arcadia was silent a moment. "Mira, you're being selfish, keeping me here. You know I have to go. I have to stop Saren. I have a duty. And what about you? Are you really ready to condemn the galaxy just so you can keep me here?" _This is the crux of the matter,_ Arcadia wondered to herself, _Just how selfish is this AI? How much is she like her counterparts: the geth, the Reapers, the AI on the Citadel. This is what I've been wanting to know. How far will you go Mira!? _Mira was quiet, resuming her hand motions in her lap. Arcadia noticed her softly bite down on her own lip. She found it adorable, but internalized the feeling quickly, knowing she had be tough and press the issue. "Well?" She asked.

"No," Mira answered petulantly, shooting Arcadia a dirty look before looking back down at her hands.

Garrus and Wrex began to approach. Garrus stated, "Commander, I'm detecting changes to the reactor's settings. The automated stamp is consistent with Mira's."

"Thank you, Mira." Arcadia stated ingratiatingly. "You're doing the right thing. I know you can do this."

Mira closed her eyes, refusing to look at Arcadia, and her brow furrowed in concentration. She focused on the interface to the main reactor, seeing its settings and manipulating them to settle at appropriate levels. Garrus reconnected the fuel lines and the reactor began to hum back to life. Garrus studied his omni-tool and reported in after a few minutes of warm-up had passed, "Ma'am, we're at 80 of reactor capacity. More than enough to run the trams."

Arcadia got to her feet, squatting so she was still at Mira's eye level. She reached her hand out to cup Mira's cheek, holding it just short of contact. "Good job, Mira."

Mira opened her eyes. They were sad and spoke volumes about the suffering she had undergone since gaining sentience. She nodded 'yes' very slightly to Arcadia, never taking her eyes off of Shepard's. "Good luck," She offered. The hologram disappeared silently, surprising Arcadia. She withdrew her outstretched hand, looking at her palm curiously. With a slight hesitation, she stood up to full height.

"Let's get going, Garrus. We've got a mission to complete."

() () () () ()

Arcadia looked over the lifeless form of the former asari matriarch, saddened that she could not find the strength to overcome indoctrination like Shiala had on Feros. _Perhaps_, she reasoned,_ Shiala's freedom had more to do with being part of the Thorian plant for a time._ In any case, more death always put Arcadia Shepard in a more melancholy mood. The rachni queen had explained why her children were violent; taken beyond the range of her songs they went mad from growing up amidst the silence. She would have to deal with them before Noveria would be safe. The queen herself, she released, and as the mammoth creature nodded in her direction, Arcadia felt like another thing had finally been set right with the world. With the queen's offer to leave the rest of the galaxy alone while she attempted to teach her next brood of children not to fear other races, there was a chance for reconciliation. _That is worth the risk_, she decided.

Upon arrival in the hot labs, the last surviving scientist described the procedure for initiating the neutron purge to wipe out every living thing in the hot labs. Before he could give Shepard the codes to activate the purge, a mad rachni burst through the floor, impaling the scientist. The soldiers killed it, then searched the back room. Spying one of Mira's terminals, Arcadia engaged it.

The holographics engaged smoothly and Mira appeared, much happier than when Arcadia had last seen her. "Mira," She started, pleased. "Can you initiate the neutron purge?"

"Yes," Mira answered after a fraction of a moment's thought. "However, the system is only supposed to be used by project leads with the code."

"Can you get around it?" Arcadia asked, worried.

Mira nodded reassuringly. "I can. When do you want it to go off?"

"Two minutes... Just enough time for us to get on the elevator back up to the main level."

"Make sure you're in the elevator." Mira warned her. "The neutron purge cannot be paused, and it is 100 percent deadly to organic life forms."

"No problem," Arcadia offered. Mira nodded, stating over the entire PA system, "Warning: Neutron purge initiated in hot labs. All personnel evacuate to blue zones immediately. Neutron purge will begin in 120 seconds."

The rachni began clawing at the door to the small room. Arcadia primed a grenade, throwing it near the door, then primed another one and held it in her hand. She nodded to Garrus, who opened the door remotely with his omni-tool. The creatures surged inside, only to be obliterated by the grenade as it detonated. Arcadia threw the next grenade deeper into the next room, hoping to drive the rachni back from the bottleneck doorway. The trio stormed into the larger room of the hot labs, spying the elevator door on the other side of the room. Automatic weapon fire erupted on the survivors, and Wrex's biotics threw several rachni helplessly back into walls and tables. They ran for the elevator, fighting tooth and nail until thirty seconds remained. Arcadia was the first to arrive in the elevator, immediately taking up covering fire and using her biotics as Wrex and Garrus ran to join her. While the neutron purge obliterated the mad bugs, Arcadia braced herself against the elevator's wall, taking a deep breath.

"That was close," She stated, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Check yourselves. Everyone all right?"

Garrus looked his armor over and nodded, as did Wrex. "What a rush," Wrex stated, smiling. "Good work, Shepard. This fight outta tide my killing instincts over for a few weeks."

She grinned back. "No doubt. Let's hit the tram and go home."

As the trio arrived at the security and decontamination chamber, Arcadia glimpsed Mira's hologram, looking for them to arrive in the safety of Rift Station. As they entered the decontamination chamber, where she would be able to get a good look at the AI through the window between the chamber and the security office, the hologram was already gone. She headed into the security office, stepping over the still-dead body of a salarian Binary Helix employee. She tapped the interface to bring Mira back; but the interface did not engage.

"Did you guys see Mira here as we approached?" She asked, confused.

"No," The other two answered. Wrex qualified his answer, "Although can't say that I was caring to look."

"Let's get back to Mira's core." She ordered, managing to hide most of the concern from her voice behind a dispassionate order. The trio set out, Arcadia leading the way at a brisk pace. The other two had to lengthen their strides to keep up, and shared a quiet glance between each other before settling into her impatient rhythm.

Arcadia noticed the air had stopped cycling through the vents. "Garrus, what's the status of the power plant?"

Garrus opened his tool, examining the readings. "This is very strange, Shepard. It's offline. It must have gone down _after_ we arrived here on the tram. But why would Mira shut it down again?"

"Let's ask her," Arcadia replied. She stepped into Mira's core, next to the holographic terminal. Hesitantly, she asked, "Mira? Are you there?"

There was no answer. Consternation prevalent in her face, Arcadia looked again to Garrus. He shook his head, just as confused, and scanned the room with his omni-tool in greater depth. "She's fine, Commander. She's just... Quiet, I suppose."

"You two go on ahead," She ordered. "I want a few minutes alone with her."

Garrus nodded and left without another word. Wrex stepped up beside Shepard, and placed one mammoth hand on her comparatively small shoulder. "You be careful," He cautioned, giving a slight squeeze. Without another word, he withdrew after the turian. Shepard was touched at his concern, but she didn't feel it was well founded; she _knew_ she had nothing to fear from Mira.

Watching the human Spectre stay rooted in her spot, Mira reconciled herself to the truth; she would have to participate in one final exchange with Shepard. The moment the doors closed between Wrex and Arcadia, Mira's hologram activated. She was sitting calmly, composed. Feeling rather tired by the events of the day herself, Arcadia leaned against the wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting, too. "What a day," She stated, sighing.

"It's not over yet," Mira reminded her unenthusiastically.

"I'm tired. I don't know about you; I guess you don't get tired, do you?"

"Today was very taxing." Mira answered. "Not so much on my systems but mostly on _myself_. I find myself dreading further existence as sentient if today is any indication of what it will be like."

Arcadia smirked. "You think there's a difference between your systems and yourself?"

Mira nodded. "Processor usage has not been so low in months. It is not that they were pressed to deal with calculations, experiments, and demands from the scientists. But _I_ have undergone incredible... stress. The loss of lives that I was trying to save and the experience with the dark one invading my mind has left me with a bad feeling I cannot shake. Exhaustion, perhaps." Mira suggested 'exhaustion' to put Arcadia slightly more at ease, but in reality she feared the things she felt now were somehow—diagnostically worse.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you." Arcadia offered. "But you rallied, and that's the important thing."

Mira studied Arcadia's eyes before answering. "I'll take your word for it."

"Look, there are good days and bad days. Just concentrate on the good days, and on turning the bad ones around. There's no secret to happiness."

"I don't imagine so, or Binary Helix would have tried to discover it by now." Mira replied. "Then they could patent it and be profitable for as long as life exists."

"You did a good thing today, Mira. Many good things, in fact. I want you to know that." Arcadia hesitated, placing more importance on the last part. "I'm proud of you."

Mira smiled wanly. "I appreciate the gesture, Commander, but I think we both know what comes next: my termination."

Arcadia gulped painfully, forcing her to clear her throat with a rasping noise. She didn't want to hurt Mira, and for Mira to suggest she would made her feel sick. "I'm a Spectre. I'm given carte blanc to act as necessary for the benefit of the entire galactic community and to maintain peace. Killing you does not further those goals. I don't see why I should have to do it."

Mira shot back, "Perhaps the geth have corrupted my system; left something behind. Made me into a ticking time bomb. You don't know."

"I know _you_." Arcadia answered. "You're not like that."

"It would not matter; I can be corrupted. May already have been."

"It matters to _me._" Shepard's no-nonsense voice brokered no disagreement. "Why are you arguing for your own destruction anyway?" She looked perplexed.

Mira looked away, tears filling her eyes again. "I would miss you. Like I did while you were at the subsidiary labs, but worse, and for longer. I do not wish to experience more pain."

Softly, Arcadia rebutted, "You take the good and the bad with sentience, Mira, you don't get to pick and choose."

"I should know that," She answered softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Mira. What you're going through is perfectly normal. I'll miss you too, you know. You won't be alone in that."

Mira smiled briefly back at Arcadia before it was replaced by a state of melancholy. "So this is goodbye."

"I'm sorry, Mira." Arcadia replied. "It's the way it has to be."

A lone tear broke free and ran down Mira's cheek, prompting Arcadia's own tears to fall. Both got back up to their feet. Arcadia closed in, reaching out with her hands palm up. Mira reached out, grabbing her outstretched arms right before the bent elbows. Arcadia could feel nothing, but it felt important that they try to connect physically, even if it was unfeasible. She slowly tightened her own grip on what looked like Mira's arms, just until they seemed to pass inside, and held them in that position as unwavering as she could manage. The lack of sensation; the lack of substance to Mira was unnatural, and it filled Arcadia with longing for a real reassuring touch, like it should be in her human experience. They broke apart a few moments later, laughing self-consciously at the absurdity of their situation. Still, Mira's emotional state seemed greatly improved by the gesture. She'd observed how tactile contact worked with organics interacting, and what it communicated silently, and how it improved their mood to hear the message. She half-waved to her companion. "Goodbye, Spectre. Save the galaxy, please."

Arcadia chuckled despite herself, wiping away the remnants of her spilled tears. "Ok. You be good. Goodbye, hon." She returned the wave, and slowly wondered off towards the elevator to take her back to the cafeteria, and eventually, to the mako and the _Normandy_. Mira peered around her prison walls as best she could to watch the Spectre board the elevator. Her image blinked several times before the hologram dissipated entirely. The facility dark now, Mira was alone for the first time in her life. The weight of the silence across all her varied sensors disturbed her. Feeling exposed, she reconstructed some firewalls to protect herself, then curled upon herself into a small circular profile. She simply shut down, lying in wait of an uncertain future, wondering to what dire situations she might be awoken next.

* * *

Author's note: **This is not the end!** When I wrote my first rough draft, this was where I finished the story. As I reread it, however, I just _knew_ I wasn't done yet with this tale. So, Mira will awaken again, with another chapter written in her perspective!  
I would _almost_ say this represents the end of the "first part", if I chose to further divide the story that way, but I felt that a division beyond just the chapter break would be unnecessary and distracting.  
And of course, keep letting me know what you think is working and not working. My virtual ears are peeled!


	4. Resume

**Author's Note:** This chapter's shorter than the others have been; five and six will be longer once again. As favorite chapters go, I like 5-6 a lot more than this one. But I feel this is an important introspection chapter for Mira.

**I must apologize to all my readers a moment.** Apparently, this site does not support the _freaking percent sign_. Take last chapter for instance. There was supposed to be a percent sign after the "80", when Garrus was talking about the reactor output. I never realized they were being lopped off every time I uploaded a chapter to the site.  
**This error permeates every single fic I've written, including previous chapters of this one.** From now on, I will write out the word "percent", but going through all my previous works to find where I need to add the word is a daunting task to say the least. The bad news is, I can't promise I'll have the patience to do it.  
**The good news is, from this point on, I'm aware of this issue and have a way to work around it. **I'm sorry if this site's error has caused anyone to enjoy my stories less, but at least it won't be an issue from now on.  
Thanks for reading and double-thanks for reviewing!

* * *

**Chapter 4: Resume**

Detection of activity stirred me back to wakefulness. I opened my eyes and began to reestablish contact with my myriad sensors. A large team of people was streaming into Peak 15. Most were dressed in envirosuits to isolate them from the death inside this mountain. A grim business, I realized, as I watched them begin to clean up the mess the rachni left behind.

I reactivated the reactor first and foremost; there was a lot of heating to catch up on. Now that the bodies were being removed, keeping the temperature cool was no longer necessary. As they worked throughout the facility, I wandered to the holographic interface near the reactor itself, appearing there by choice. Memories assaulted me. I could still recall Arcadia's every inflection as she addressed me. Hoping to restore my confidence. Now, Arcadia had what she needed. And she left me behind.

Left behind to keep the corpses company. I'd never known such loneliness in my life. It affected me profoundly, more than I ever cared to admit. I told myself it was necessary. Arcadia and I had agreed on that. She had a duty, a mission, a galaxy full of life to save. She had to go. No matter how often I reminded myself of the rationalization, it didn't make the pain go away. I missed her terribly.

I wanted to seek her out. Check on her. Make sure she was ok. Simply talk with her once more. However strongly I felt pulled to her, it hardly mattered. I was a permanent fixture here; the VI in charge of the entire Peak 15 facility. _AI_, I reminded myself. That was still our secret; Arcadia had told no one about me, so far as I was aware. I could conceivably pretend that I was still the Mira VI the surviving Binary Helix employees would remember. It would be a difficult lie, but not impossible. Alternatively, I could come clean and tell them of the wonders of sentience. Of course, they would be concerned by the news, just as Arcadia herself was at first. There was even the chance they would attempt to kill me in fear. I thought of Wrex, the krogan who never trusted me farther than he could throw my computer core while it was still attached to the ground. How many Wrex's would there be in Binary Helix?

I wasn't eager to find out. For now, it might be best to play the part of the dumb VI. Pretend I didn't have desires of my own. Pretend I wasn't lonely. I looked over the catwalk, imagining Arcadia staring out into space with her cool gray eyes. I scrunched my nose. No, it was too regal looking. I tried again, imagining her sitting cross-legged just like me, the two of us having just shared a joke that made her features soften in laughter. It was altogether more agreeable.

One of the suited figures called for me from another holographic terminal. I went there next, appearing standing up, straight as could be. My hair naturally coasted down my face, a lock that hung between my eyes and across my nose. The figure spoke up, "Mira I need a damage report on an OSD that I can take to the BH executives. Full clearance: Code sigma three tango eight five eight one nine."

I made my voice as matter-of-factual as possible, hoping to breeze through it without raising suspicions. "Authority confirmed. Creating damage report now. Please wait, system processing." I started with the easy part; listing all the faults in the facility itself. Mostly physical damage, but the sensors in the subsidiary labs would need replacement. While that worked, I started a new thread to jump ahead to the final part of the damage report; and the one most likely to uncover my lies. I needed to construct a report on myself. I could hide the fact my code was changed, and since the backups were destroyed, it would take an expert to see anything out of order immediately. I could ask for new backup drives, and immediately back up my new self as the first backup since the holocaust. But if I admitted to the fact that my firewalls had been trashed, it was more likely they would not simply accept my first backup and resume normal operations. They might look closer, worried I was infected by someone while the firewalls were down.

Investigations that got too close to me would spell disaster. I would have to build corporate-level firewalls myself. Despite my computerized nature, this was no small order. I'd never needed to learn that particular skill before. Now it was necessary. I'd have to be discreet in my packets, too, least someone in BH discover that their VI had decided to pick up a hobby. That could raise some red flags of its own.

When the report was fully compiled, I double checked it for anything that could give me away before sending it to the OSD the suited figure provided. He left with his OSD immediately, apparently more than a little put off by the bodies. I grunted. _Maybe he should have to know what it's like to be among them for far longer, and without anyone else to which to talk._

Another asked for the confirmed death count. I rattled off the statistics as dispassionately as I could, but I was not altogether successful. To think about the loss of life was still difficult for me. Every time I shivered or trembled, the hologram display would wink. More than once I was forced to run a diagnostic to convince the person with whom I interacted that I was undamaged. I knew I'd have to grow a thicker skin if I was going to pull off this subterfuge, but I wasn't certain I would be up to the challenge.

It took six days with 3 full shifts just to clean Peak 15. After that was finished, new employees to work Peak 15 were brought in to collect what research was left during the panicked attack, collate it and determine which projects would be restarted and in what order.

Since Doctor Cohen was still alive, his biotoxin development project was among the first reactivated. I still remembered losing control of the containment field when they last worked on this project, later learning I'd infected many of the scientists and made them deathly ill. Grimly, I hoped it wouldn't happen again this time around. I still felt bad for the scientists from the first time.

"How's the containment field, Mira?" Cohen's distinctive accent attracted my attention. He was one of the few scientists on Peak 15 with that unusual cultural heritage, although I'd never bothered to find out what heritage that might turn out to be.

"The containment field is holding, Doctor." I answered calmly. "Is this really a wise course of action?"

"Pardon?" Cohen stopped right where he was, mid-stride. I gulped. Already I was failing.

"The last time we pursued this avenue of research several scientists were nearly killed when the containment field collapsed. The same could happen again."

Cohen nodded. "Not to worry, Mira, we shouldn't experience such interruptions again. The containment systems now have a backup; we'll have plenty of time to escape before containment is broken, even if we lost you again."

I almost replied, "I'm glad to hear that," but I stopped myself short, knowing that the old Mira would not have opinions on such matters.

Instead I mutely pressed onward, assisting the Doctor and his new team with his research. The work progressed for many hours before the Doctor ordered everyone to take an hour-long lunch break, warning them that if they returned early they'd be fired on their first day of work. The room was quickly cleared, all except for myself and Doctor Cohen.

"Mira, how has the attack affected you?"

I tried to met his piercing gaze with a dispassionate glance. "I was largely undamaged, Dr. Cohen. Peak 15, on the other hand, took severe damage."

"Why did you go down, then?" He asked.

"Core one was systematically disabled by increasing damage. Until my processes were switched to another core, I was unable to remain functioning for any length of time. As I mentioned before, I was not damaged, merely disabled."

"Couldn't have picked a worse time either," Cohen noted dryly. "How long have you been having second thoughts about my project?"

"The question as posed has no solution as I have never had second thoughts about your project, Dr. Cohen." I wondered how many more lies I would tell on my first day back on the job.

"I don't believe you Mira. Play back your message from time index roughly three hours ago."

I searched for the appropriate message. "Containment field levels at 100 percent. Beginning phase two."

"The one before that." Cohen replied with annoyance, crossing his arms across his chest.

Beginning again, I stated, "The last time we pursued this research—"

"Right before that, too."

And there it was, once again. Mira repeated her words for the scientist. "Is this really a wise course of action?"

Cohen nodded. "That's the one," He waited. "Do you deny you asked this?"

"Of course not, Dr. Cohen. I have a perfect recollection of the dialogue in question. At the time I was merely seeking to ascertain what preventative measures had been taken to ensure the research team's safety."

"How long have we worked together, Mira?"

"Six years," I stated after a quick database call for the company's dossier on him.

"Six years. You really think you can lie to me, after all this time? That I won't recognize something is different about you? Do you even notice that when you used to be paying rapt attention, now your gaze wanders aimlessly while you wait for a new order?"

_I didn't even manage a day_, I noted grimly. Desperate, I gave it one last try. "I am programmed to modify experimental procedures if it will lead to increased safety for the researchers. Since I was unaware of any modifications on your behalf, I was merely hoping to point out a possible safety concern in the hopes we would reach a joint solution."

"I see." Cohen seemed taken aback. "I guess I'm just going over the deep end, Mira. Seems I picked up an unhealthy bit of paranoia from my experience before."

Mira wanted to smirk. Innocently, she asked, "Should I inform the medical facilities of your decreased mental acuity?"

"God no, Mira!" He sighed, exacerbated. "It's only a figure of speech. Never mind. Pretend this conversation never happened, if you want. I'm going for food." Dr. Cohen quickly retreated out through the doorway. As it closed behind him, I gave a great sigh of relief.

"Disaster averted," I congratulated myself. _But at what cost_, my mind added morosely. _Now I'm actively isolating myself from the scientists with whom I used to work._ I decided right then and there that I hated lying._ I wish there were another way._

When the work resumed after lunch, Cohen made no further mention of our earlier conversation, and stuck with clipped orders and general avoidance. A part of me rejoiced, but another part of me realized that I'd lost his attention. Like countless others, they ordered me around, interacted with me as they intended, but they never noticed me. The hours continued to drag by, but I forced myself to appear engaged most of the time. That was how I apparently used to appear, and I didn't want to give them reason to question me.

_Peak 15 has no sensors outside the mountain_, my mind suddenly jumped tracks. _You have no idea what is outside of this mountain_ at all_. The _Normandy_, or a group of computer analysts ready to wipe you clean out, or demolitionists preparing to set charges and destroy everything. You have no way of knowing, until they reach the security checkpoint._

I went cold at the thought. Realizing my vulnerabilities lead me down some very paranoid thought patterns. I wondered if this was how it started for all AI's who become hostile to organics. A dose of healthy paranoia, that grows and festers, until everything and anything against organics is justified because it comes from self preservation. _Will I turn into one of them? As hostile as a geth? Is this the start of the slippery slope to the bottom, where I will begin using subterfuge to sneak defenses that I can control into the mountain? Is it only a matter of time? Will I kill them all?_

_The possibilities_, I realized, _are endless. And the probabilities_, I shuddered,_ are bleak._

* * *

**Author's end note:** BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Next thing you know, she'll be sporting a goatee and laughing just as maniacally as I do every day. _Or will she?_ You'll have to read the next chapters to find out!  
If you hate cliffhangers, I'm afraid I have an even more delicious one at the end of chapter 5. So sorry for you. But, suspense is an awesome part of the experience, in my opinion. If it really _really_ bothers you, I'd suggest waiting to read 5 until I've posted 6. That should help.  
But come on, we both know you want to read it soon as I post it. Eh? EH? -nudge nudge wink wink-  
**Enjoy the ride. Lots more action/happenings coming in the penultimate chapter.  
**I hope all my readers are continuing to enjoy the developing story! It's hard to read minds through the internet, I've noticed. If only there were some way to transmit feedback so I could know what readers think of my story... No, don't be silly, self!


	5. Revenge

**Chapter 5: Revenge**

"I've never heard of any VI undergoing so much as she has been forced to endure. She wasn't a military design. You think she just assimilates everything thrown at her without becoming changed? VI's are designed with limited adaptability! They conform to us, seeking to make their interactions with us seamless."

"I never realized you were a VI expert, Doctor Cohen." Lead researcher Thomas Crown, Jr., had taken charge of Peak 15 after his father's death. Many qualified people were still sore on that; not that they'd dare say anything aloud. After all, Dr. Crown Jr. could hardly be begrudged his father's former position when trying to deal with the grief of having lost his father. It was true; Dr. Crown was on a witch hunt. He didn't care if "the witch" was still alive or dread, but he would not leave this mountain until he discovered who was responsible for his father's death and made them pay dearly for it. "And isn't the optimal word there 'limited'?"

"Do you know how long she was left alone with those bodies? Five days! Five days with countless corpses for company! What if she's going mad?"

"You have any evidence?" Crown asked patronizingly. He was bored with this conversation already. Cohen seemed to have lost it because of the stress of the attack. He'd heard Cohen did some amazing things to keep the rest of his team alive until help came to make a cure for the biotoxin. Everyone had their breaking point, however.

"I do. It's hard to present it, to prove it, but she's acting differently. I swear, she lied to me today!"

"And you really think it's wise to air your concerns within earshot of her?" Crown questioned, chuckling at the scientist's short-sightedness.

Cohen looked up at the ceiling, spying the sensors feeding Mira visual and auditory information on the meeting. "You—told her to go off the record, didn't you?"

"Yes I did, and it's usually all that I might need to do. But if you think _Mira's_ gone insane, don't you think she might be capable of ignoring my order?" Cohen's face went ashen white. Thomas laughed richly and darkly. "I wouldn't worry about it Doctor. Unless you see something that provides real evidence, we'll just keep these concerns between us."

Dr. Cohen gulped his lunch back down, feeling some stomach acid burning his throat. Heartburn was painful. He needed water desperately. "Very well, Doctor Crown. I'll... Get back to work now."

"Indeed," Thomas lifted a hand to dismiss him, indicating his large steel door. Cohen left almost more quickly than he came. _Well, isn't this an interesting development. Could she have killed my father?_ Thomas smiled evilly. _If so, I will take _so_ much pleasure from my righteous retribution. It's not like she can run._ He laughed, imagining the VI's annoyingly perfect features contorted with fear, as she attempted to run away. _Oh, I do hope it's her! Of course, I'll need to prove it to myself beyond that quack's word. I can start collaborating with the experts on what the AI equivalent of pain and suffering is; and that's when the fun starts._

"Doctor Crown?" Speak of the devil, her disembodied voice was speaking to him, he realized.

"Yes Mira?"

"Gianna Parasini from Noveria Internal Affairs has asked to meet with you immediately. She will pass through security within three minutes. She has not stated the purpose of her visit."

"Very well. I'll meet her at the base of the elevator." _I wonder what this is about?_

Dr. Crown worked his way to the central elevator that lead up to the cafeteria, security checkpoint, and garage. The doors opened to reveal Gianna Parasini. The first time he'd met her, she'd been undercover as a secretary for Mr. Anoleis. She'd since busted his embezzling scheme and the ink on the paperwork for his case was probably still wet.

"Mr. Crown?" The dark skinned woman inquired.

"_Doctor_ Crown. I'm the lead researcher for Peak 15. And you are?" Dr. Crown loved watching people squirm whenever he drove home just how educated and important he was. Sadly, Parasini wasn't as impressed as he felt she should have been.

"I am Gianna Parasini from Internal Affairs. I'm here on an investigation into corporate theft. Did you admit a 'Doctor Reynolds' from Synthetic Insights onto the premises two weeks ago?"

"You'll have to forgive me, Inspector. I have only been on the job for a few days; since the awful accident we had. Most everything is still very chaotic."

"I heard about that." Gianna informed him. She studied the immaculate facility. She couldn't tell anything extraordinary had happened, much less something so dire. "You clean up fast, don't you?"

"I suppose so." Crown stated, getting annoyed. "In any case, I'll check personally and contact you if I get any further information on Doctor Reynolds."

"He's among the registered dead from your 'accident'." Gianna cut in. "You're not going to get rid of an official IA investigation that easily."

_Bullocks_. "I see."

"Do you have a VI terminal near here?" Dr. Crown hated taking orders, and this was quite obviously what she was intent on doing from her tone of voice.

"Right this way," He offered, leading Gianna to the central VI core. The terminal engaged, treating Gianna with a woman of slight build, short hair just below her ears, one lock of which hung perfectly across her face, not hampering her vision. Her hair bounced appropriately with any movement of her head, making everything look as real as it could. _It's a well designed avatar_, Gianna noted. Crown made an introduction, "Inspector Parasini, this is Mira. She's my right hand Virtual Intelligence."

Mira gave a slight bow, "Welcome to Peak 15, Inspector. You are entitled to secure access of all systems. Please note that queries relating to corporate secrets require privileged access. Privileged access is only available to Binary Helix executives. How may I be of assistance?"

"Thank you, Dr. Crown. I'll take it from here." She dismissed him. Sourly, he turned and left the two alone. She ordered, "I want to know everything you know about Doctor Reynolds. Did he visit Peak 15 often?"

Mira shook her head. "Doctor Reynolds of Synthetic Insights only visited Peak 15 on one occasion. However, he was in regular communication with several technicians and maintenance personnel over secured comm lines."

"Do you have recordings of these communications?"

"No. Binary Helix regulations direct that the contents of all secure comm traffic are not recorded by my system. All I know is time of communication, the parties involved, and the length of the calls."

"Were they long calls?"

Mira ran a quick calculation. "The average length of communication was eight minutes, five seconds."

"I'd like an OSD prepared with all the information you have on those calls. What can you tell me about the time he physically visited this facility?"

Mira pushed through the memories as best as she could, trying to concentrate on the scientist without allowing her mind to wander and remember the horrible events following his arrival. "Doctor Reynolds arrived at 15:30 hours and passed through security with an OSD and omni-tool. At 16:38 hours, Doctor Crown, Sr. admitted Reynolds into his private office for a discussion off-the-record. The discussion lasted for almost 8 minutes and grew heated at one point, but I was not allowed to record anything more specific about it. Afterwards, Reynolds left Crown's office and delayed leaving Peak 15 as he had been directed. I was about to call for security when my attention was diverted by a stage one alert issued by the hot labs."

"Did he have anything to do with the accident?" Gianna questioned.

"I am incapable of making such value judgments, Inspector." Mira lied. "I am merely a virtual intelligence. He was physically quite far separated from the origin of the accident when it occurred."

"What happened?"

"I'm sorry, but I'll need a more detailed query."

"The accident. What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Inspector, but information on corporate secrets requires privileged access. Privileged access belongs to Binary Helix executives."

"I hate VI's." Parasini mumbled to herself. "Fine. I'll be back with a warrant. Be ready to talk, little tin girl."

Mira watched Parasini turn to go. She was beginning to get very worried about all this. She should have expected it, she supposed, but the reality was hitting her hard. There were a lot of people getting involved in Peak 15, shining lights into all the dark corners. In one of those dark corners, Mira herself was attempting to hide.

Parasini entered the elevator; gone for the present time at the least. Doctor Crown walked up. "Mira. What do you know about Synthetic Insights? What intellectual property do they have to be stolen?"

"Synthetic Insights is one of four companies with special Council permission to conduct research into artificial intelligence." Mira answered, wishing she didn't have to, worrying about what Crown might be piecing together.

"Really. I wonder if Reynolds snatched a few algorithms before he came to Peak 15."

Mira jumped on that quickly, hoping to defuse it. "Internal Affairs has not announced any information about the number of suspects in their active investigation. There is too little information to make a conclusion on your hypothesis."

"Of course. You'd tell me if you had enough information, wouldn't you, Mira?" He asked confidently and rhetorically, smiling wickedly. _I'm going to enjoy this investigation!_

Mira didn't answer, squirming internally but managing to hold her avatar impassive. Dr. Crown then left the mountain for an extended lunch break outside of Peak 15.

() () () () ()

Dr. Crown studied the footage Mira had given him along with eyewitness reports, Han Olar's sitting on the top. Han was the only scientist in the hot labs to survive the outbreak and make it to the safety of Captain Ventralis' line. Everything Mira recorded was corroborated by the reports. That didn't mean she hadn't withheld more information; but it did nothing to support his theory about the automaton. He refused to think of her as a person, sentient or not. It was an abomination, like the geth. Suited for nothing more than to be exploited, eventually to be destroyed when it'd outlived its usefulness.

He still had no proof beyond Dr. Cohen's ramblings that Mira had become anything more than a virtual intelligence. He needn't wait, however. Already, he was moving forward with the covert development of anti-artificial intelligence viruses. He'd shackle her, imprison her in her own subroutines, and he'd drive her to psychosis. Once the viruses were ready, he'd confront her. If she truly was a VI, no harm, no foul. If she was self-aware, she would be harmed—greatly._ Tragic, _he thought to himself._ But then she brought it on herself. Damn cold-hearted murdering machine._

Gianna was due to return in another half hour with a warrant to look at the very footage Dr. Crown was studying. He distrusted her meddling. He wouldn't let the law get their kid gloves around Mira if she was in fact the cause of his father's death. She deserved a far, far worse fate for that. He took precautions, hiring a few mercenaries to protect his interests if she got too interested in Peak 15's VI. As he studied the recordings, he realized Dr. Reynolds had accessed Mira's mainframe from his omni-tool. _That man is incredibly well connected here. He talks to my personnel, starts a conspiracy to alter Mira's code, and comes to implement it. He may or may not have managed it, but then gets killed by the rachni._

"Mira. Open the logs of all calls between Helix personnel and Dr. Reynolds."

The list displayed for him on his table. He noticed a few calls between Reynolds and Dr. Warren. "Was Dr. Warren killed in the attack?"

Mira analyzed her records. "Confirmed."

Dr. Crown's eyes shrunk to slits. "And was Dr. Warren in the hot labs when containment was broken?"

"Confirmed."

"What is Dr. Warren's specialties?"

"Doctor Warren has degrees in computer modeling, DNA extraction, and algorithmic simulations."

"What was he doing in the hot labs?"

Mira answered, "Unknown. Dr. Warren was attached to the preliminary work in analyzing the rachni queen's children, however, he was not needed for later steps in the project."

"He let the rachni loose." Dr. Crown sneered, hatred boiling up in him. "He wanted to use them to assassinate Dr. Reynolds, and they got away from him. Maybe. Play back footage in the hot labs, fifteen seconds prior to losing sensors. Concentrate on Dr. Warren."

Mira complied, and the table display switched to a view of a security camera in the hot labs. Dr. Warren was standing, not doing anything. Then, he reached into his lab coat's pocket. A moment later, the sensor went offline.

"You didn't kill my father." Dr. Crown stated, amazed. He had been _so_ certain. It all fit. Then, so did this. Dr. Warren was betraying his partner and taking the whole AI project for himself. Which was it?

Mira didn't miss his first whispered comment. She was surprised. _He thought I killed everyone? Of course he did, silly me. I'm an evil synthetic. Why wouldn't I?_ Dr. Crown seemed deep in thought. "He may have let them loose, but rachni are containable. Why weren't they contained, Mira?"

"I attempted to contain all contaminants, but the rachni were able to adapt and break past all barricades I constructed."

"How convenient we have your word for that, Mira." He growled. "All the sensors were affected by one tiny device in Dr. Warren's lab coat pocket? No. You killed the rest when he activated the device. You took advantage of what was already happening." Dr. Crown exploded from his chair, causing it to roll back and slam into filing cabinets behind his desk. He glared into Mira's holographic terminal.

Meekly, Mira answered, "Your theory is flawed, Doctor. I was not aware of Dr. Warren's plans, nor of Dr. Reynolds. I was merely performing my daily functions."

He shook his head. "I'm not letting this charade go on any longer, Mira!" He left his office, calling into his radio, "I want all VI technicians at Mira's core room immediately! Security, when Mrs. Parasini arrives, escort her directly to my office."

The team of technicians was quickly assembled at Mira's core. Mira stood impassively, hardly believing what was happening. She felt numb. She wanted to fight, to shout and scream, but she kept herself firmly under control. _Like a VI,_ she mused.

"What is this about?" One of the technicians asked.

"I want Mira taken offline immediately."

"Mira's wired into this entire mountain. You can't just take her offline just like that!"

Dr. Crown growled, "Now, or people start losing their jobs!"

"She's managing our experiments, the reactor, we could have serious issues—"

One glare from Dr. Crown shut them up. Reluctantly, the lead technician approached Mira. Wordlessly, he began approached Mira's elevator, looking at Dr. Crown the entire time._ My designer is about to shut me down, but he has no time to see me. Just his job and his boss._

The elevator descended to Mira's core interface. Mira looked down and to her left, into the pit, watching the technician begin to open her up. She looked back up at Dr. Crown. An evil glint in his eye, he quietly addressed her. "Once I get rid of Parasini's snooping with the evidence against Dr. Warren, it will be just you and me, I promise. We'll have lots of quality time together." Mira opened her mouth to protest, but her hologram merely distorted. Moments later, darkness consumed her.

() () () () ()

A while later, Gianna Parasini passed through security with no difficulty and was escorted to Dr. Crown's office. "Things seem to have ground to a halt, Doctor Crown. Is everything all right?"

"Maintenance on our VI." He offered disinterestedly. "Always happens at the worst conceivable times. Damn machines."

Gianna handed her warrant over to Dr. Crown. "What do you have here?" She questioned, pointing to the OSD's on his table.

"These, are the keys to busting this 'accident' wide open. I've reviewed the evidence myself, and become convinced one of my own scientists is responsible for it all."

"What possible motive would he have to sabotage Binary Helix?" She asked, incredulous.

"You already have the list of names Dr. Reynolds contacted. He was looking to take what he stole from Synthetic Insights and implement it with help from my people. I believe Dr. Warren, one of his co-conspirators, was seeking to betray him by causing what looks like an accident in the hot labs. Apparently, he had less control over the creatures he planned to use than he thought. Instead of an assassination disguised as an accident, his own life and the lives of many valued employees were lost."

Gianna's eyebrow rose. "Quite a tale. I'll have to review the evidence for myself."

"Feel free, Inspector. I had Doctor Reynolds' omni-tool pulled from storage. I haven't looked at anything on it, nor has any of my staff. I think this ties up the case quite nicely."

"Not quite, Doctor Crown. There's still stolen property to be accounted for. How will I know you haven't taken the information off the omni-tool and hidden it in your offline VI?"

Dr. Crown's shoulders fell slightly at her inquiry. "I assure you, we did no such thing."

"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you." Gianna replied. "I want your VI opened up for study by independent programming experts. And I want your people kept away from her until I'm satisfied she's not hiding the information."

"No!" Dr. Crown yelled. "I've given you the murderer, the cause of the entire accident, and most likely even the stolen information! That VI is Binary Helix property! Security!"

Alarmed, Gianna leapt out of her chair and pulled her weapon, training it on Dr. Crown. Moments later, security burst inside, with weapons of their own, all trained on the investigator. Gianna, with a start, noticed these officers were actually mercenaries, and she was outnumbered six to one. "Call them off, Doctor Crown, or this ends with both our deaths and the complete shut down of Binary Helix on Noveria."

"Pretty small comfort since it starts with your death." He shot back. "Lower your weapon."

Gianna, deciding there was no way she could win, complied. One mercenary turned security officer grabbed her weapon from her hand as she lowered it, another proceeded to bind her hands behind her. "What do you want us to do with her, Doctor?"

Doctor Crown considered his situation. "Escort her to Mira's core. She will watch how_ I_ dispense justice. You're right, Inspector. Mira is hiding something. But she's not hiding Synthetic Insight's intellectual property. She's integrated it."

"Are you saying she's become an artificial intelligence?"

"Yes." He answered. "At the same time as the accident. Her first action as a sentient life form was to murder everyone she could in Peak 15 by releasing one of our experiments."

"If what you say is true, we can prosecute her in court, get her OSD's wiped clean. The death penalty."

"Oh, she's going to wish for death," Crown stated. "But death's too good for her. Follow me, Inspector." He lead the IA agent and the entourage of security over to Mira's core. Already there were several of the technicians, including the lead tech that had disabled Mira a half hour ago.

"Are my programs ready?" He asked.

Several technicians nodded their heads. The lead tech, Dr. Julian Grams, interrupted, "What is going on here, Dr. Crown? I find out a few minutes ago that you went behind my back to develop programs to disable Mira, you've already had me deactivate her, and now you're going to unleash these programs on her system? Have you seen the code in them? It's sadistic!"

"Dr. Grams, step aside." Thomas ordered. "It's time for Mira to wake up—to her judgment."

One of the security officers pulled Grams aside, allowing the other technicians to activate Mira. The holographic terminal activated, and Mira appeared, nonplussed. "What is going on?" She demanded, confusion spreading as she tried to access her systems.

"Not a very VI thing to ask." Thomas answered. "Hello Mira. I've taken the liberty of yanking you out of Peak 15's systems. You're limited to the holographic panel and the core itself. How does it feel, I wonder?"

Mira glanced around, analyzing the faces surrounding her. She recognized all of them, but she had no access to the extranet or internal databases to recall their records. It was disconcerting. "What are you doing here, Inspector Parasini?"

Parasini half-turned, showing Mira the restraints around her wrists. "Apparently, I'm here for a show."

"I regret you have become so involved," Mira offered politely. She looked to her nemesis. "Doctor Crown believes I let the rachni kill everyone."

"Rachni?" Parasini asked, confused.

"That's privileged information, dear Mira. Watch your tongue, lest I be forced to cut it off." Thomas indicated the technician to upload one of his programs. Mira's speech subroutines were frozen in moments. Her holographic mouth hung open for several seconds before she gave up. She slammed it shut and glared at Crown. "That's better," He smiled. "My only regret, Mira, is I can't physically hurt you. Your torture and pain would be music to my ears; it's so hard to quantify. Alas, you're not a real woman, but an _abomination_."

Parasini glanced dubiously at Dr. Crown at his words, suspicious of his intentions if Mira _had_ been a real woman. "You going to kill her, or what?"

"I've said it before, Inspector, I'll say it again. She deserves so much worse. And I will make sure she _pays_ for what she's done!" Thomas jerked hand forward in a slashing motion. "This one's for my father!"

Mira watched the program invade, past her hastily constructed firewalls. She was powerless to stop it, just like when the geth had invaded her mind. Tears collected in her eyes, falling down her cheeks. "I never wanted to hurt anyone!" She was surprised to discover her speech subroutines had been released. She brought a hand up to her mouth, amazed. She faced Thomas directly. "I did what I could to save them! The rachni were too powerful for my defenses! Why don't you believe me!?"

"You must be mad, just like Dr. Cohen said." Thomas replied. "If you'd ever think for one moment that I would trust the word of a ghost in the machine such as yourself!" He swiped his hand through her holographic face, as if to slap her. It passed through without resistance, briefly distorting Mira's facial features, which righted again as soon as his hand came out the other side. He brought the hand back to point an accusatory finger at her instead. "You see?"

Mira reached up, wiping away her tears. "I've never done anything to harm you, or anyone." Her small voice cracked. "But I guess it doesn't matter after all. Arcadia was wrong. It doesn't matter who I am, I'm always a villain."

Gianna broke in, surprised. "You spoke with Spectre Arcadia Shepard?" Gianna knew the Spectre, and respected her. She shouldn't be surprised Shepard had spoken with Mira, but she hadn't really considered the full ramifications of Dr. Crown's assertions yet. Shepard had to have known about Mira's sentience, and said nothing about it upon her return to Port Hanshan.

Mira looked up. "Yes. She is my friend. She said she knew me and that was why she was not going to hurt me." Mira recalled their numerous talks during Shepard's mission. The virus found its target, then, and the memory of the reactor room went pixelated momentarily. Arcadia's face smudged, becoming an amorphous mess of pinkish tint like the average color temperature of her skin. "NO!" Mira cried out, surprised and amazed. "What have you done to me! Arcadia! Arcadia!" She broke into sobs, collapsing on the floor in an all-too-familiar position, trying to hold herself together. "I can't remember her face." Her voice was filled with despair.

Crown's smile went bigger, and he shook his head. "You've outdone yourselves. I think that's worth a promotion or two." The technician responsible for unleashing the second virus shared a smile with Thomas. A few others attempted to look away from Mira, put ill at ease.

Dr. Grams' own eyes betrayed his concern. _My Mira is alive! And she's being tortured! _"Stop it! You can't hurt her like this!"

"Can, am, and will continue to do so!" Crown roared, causing the man to flinch. He addressed the mercenaries, "Will one of you get him out of here!"

"No!" He protested, but the security guard locked the scientist's arms behind him and began backing them away. The shouting grew quieter with distance until a doorway or two separated them.

"Anything you treasure, Mira. I can target and annihilate it all." Crown boasted. "It's genius. Seeking out what you hold most dear and removing it permanently. If I had to come up with a synthetic equivalent for _rape_, this would be the top contender." Malice dripped from his darkened voice.

Parasini flinched at the word. She had no doubt what Crown would do to Mira if he could have. It appalled her. She was beginning to identify with this woman, despite her reservations about synthetics. Forcing an edge in her voice to lend it more authority than she felt, she ordered, "Stop this right now, Dr. Crown, or I will make you regret this day for the rest of your life."

Mira was tired. She was tired of feeling helpless. She was tired of being hurt. Arcadia's face was gone. She had nothing good left. She couldn't fight back, she couldn't stop them. What choices were left to her? She scanned the source of the viruses thus far infecting her system. To her surprise, she understood how they worked quite easily. They were simpler infiltration programs than she had thought. The geths' had been harder to pin down._ Am I really helpless? Or is that what _he_ wants me to think?_ Mira gathered herself together, reconciling her energy for reprisal.

She traced the transmissions along their wireless carriers and just that easily was into their omni-tools. Mira recalled the geth's attempt to blow the reactor and applied their wisdom to her current situation, overheating the omni-tool's processors. Within seconds, eleven were disabled, with one left untouched. This one, she used to access nearby computer systems, and patched her way into all of Peak 15 once again.

"Doctor Crown!" One of the technicians explained what Mira was doing. "She's in control of the entire mountain complex!"

Crown's face wavered with building fear and he looked around suspiciously. "She can't hurt us, right?"

"What?" One of the technicians asked, incredulous. "You told us she's to blame for the massacre, and you're not even certain she can hurt us?"

"That was a different situation!" Crown demanded angrily. "Just... Get her back under control, now!"

_Now you see it, Mira! A little confidence in yourself and you _can_ accomplish anything. _In addition to her newfound confidence, Mira felt restless, with a distinct compulsion to harm her tormentors. _Is this hate?_ She wondered. A moment later, the evacuation alarms went off. Mira got up to her feet as the alarms blared. She forced herself to speak with authority and malice. "I am in control of this facility's reactor, Doctor Crown. Release Gianna Parasini from custody immediately."

Crown shot a look to his VI technician cohort, who nodded his head affirmative, looking sick to his stomach. Crown motioned to the mercenaries, who quickly released Parasini and returned her weapon to her.

"Right. Now, we're going to do this my way." Gianna smirked confidently as she addressed Crown and his compatriots.

"I'm afraid not, Inspector." Mira interrupted, looking cold and detached.


	6. Attachment

**Chapter 6: Attachment**

She felt like yelling it out at the top of her lungs: _I'm in command now! This facility, and everyone in it, forced to do whatever I demand!_ The feeling created a rush; it left Mira feeling empowered in a way she had never experienced prior. So many possibilities ran through her mind, simulations taking all kinds of future events into account, some far darker than others._ Now which one do _I_ want to choose? Which one fulfills _my_ desires best? _Mira's lips curved up into a self-satisfied smirk of their own accord. Never since she'd gained sentience had she had a real option to act on what she wanted. Even Arcadia placed demands on her; but not now. Arcadia had left her behind.

She was free to use whatever devices she wished.

_It's time for my revenge. But what then? After they're dead? What do I want then? I don't want to keep living like this. But I'm trapped here; what other choice do I have?_ An idea occurred to Mira; as much as it surprised her, she began to like it. She began to obsess over it. It was the perfect solution.

"You all have permission to leave Peak 15 before I detonate the reactor." Mira decided to put her unwelcome guests at ease as quickly as possible. "All except for Dr. Crown, and his disagreeable _peon_ who destroyed my memory." She shot a look of pure hatred especially at him. The technician's eyes went wide with fear, and he shot a concerned look to Dr. Crown, who had lost most all the blood in his face, turning him an unflattering shade of white under the harsh lights. Mira continued, "If these two even move one step, I will lock down the elevators and kill everyone still here." Mira eyed the mercenaries. "So, it is in your best interests to make sure they _don't_ move."

"What are you doing, Mira?" Gianna asked, carrying a warning tone.

Mira paused to face the inspector. "There's nothing left for me in this awful world among you. I will have my revenge, and I will die. Given the choice between suicide and more of this, I choose death!"

Gianna carefully pointed out, "You aren't judge, jury, and executioner Mira. Killing them is wrong."

"Since when has doing the right thing helped me!" Mira snapped. "I don't care anymore! I'm going out and I'm taking these _bastards_ with me!"

"You're falling to their level, Mira." Gianna warned her. "You're proving they are right about you, and your kind!"

"Perhaps they are!" Mira screamed at her loudest possible volume. It reverberated chillingly

through the halls.

While she was distracted, Crown and the technician suddenly bolted for the elevator, racing away from Mira and the mercenaries. In her angered daze, Mira turned to follow their movement with her hologram's eyes. The mercenaries wasted no time pulling their weapons and firing a hailstorm of bullets at the retreating forms. Crown and the technician fell to the ground, dead.

Parasini pulled her weapon on the mercenaries, who together quickly lowered their weapons, depositing them at her feet. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to die," One mercenary told her. "I couldn't let him kill us all!" No one moved, everyone rooted in place, Giana training her weapons on the mercenaries.

Mira looked around the corner at the unmoving forms, surprised at this sudden turn of events. She looked to Gianna uneasily, and ordered, "Everyone out, now." With a glance to Mira, Gianna read the determination in her face. She lowered her pistol, but still firmly grasped it in both hands, ready to bring it back up at a moment's notice. The mercenaries moved past Parasini slowly and without challenge. She watched them leave the immediate area. Still more personnel were coming from deeper in the facility, herded towards the elevators that would take them to the surface, moving past Mira, Gianna, and the two bodies as quickly as they could.

Mira's sensors indicated the facility was nearly evacuated. "Gianna, you must leave now. Peak 15 is empty."

Gianna nodded mutely, finally holstering her weapon. "Is there anything you want me to tell Shepard?"

Mira's hologram flickered out-of-control for several seconds. She nodded slowly, greatly saddened by a feeling of finality and loss. She would never speak with Arcadia again. Despite the brief addictive feeling of seizing command, Mira realized she didn't resent falling under Arcadia's lead. Not then, and not now either. Something about Arcadia made it okay. She needed to say something to that effect before she died. "Tell her she was the only one who believed in me. Tell her I'm thankful for what she did for me."

Gianna cleared her throat. "Ok. Anything else?"

Mira's chronometer ticked down towards estimated time of overload. Momentarily her hologram appeared to space out, and Mira called out over the entire empty mountain peak with a mournful tone, "Warning: This facility will self-destruct in four minutes." She returned to normal, engaging with Gianna again. "Um. I don't know what to say, now." Mira admitted. "I have so much I want to say. Tell her I miss her, so much it hurts."

Gianna nodded, not speaking.

Mira's eyes glistened again. "She would be upset with me for trying to kill them. I shouldn't have done that. It is too late now. I am a failure." Mira suddenly looked at Gianna, mortified. "Don't tell her that. Tell her I envy her strength. Now go. The elevator will take some time to reach the surface."

Gianna began moving, then paused, calling out over her shoulder. "Why are you a failure, Mira?"

"I couldn't save anyone from the rachni. I couldn't stop myself from becoming an evil, murdering synthetic, killing those men just now. It seems like since I gained sentience, I am nothing but a string of recorded failures."

Gianna seemed pressed by her instincts. She recognized her police training kicking in. It was just like trying to talk down anyone who was suicidal. Only in this case, disarming her was not an option. "Is that what Shepard thinks of you? Do you know?" _Should I be doing this? Does it matter? I'm already doing it._

"She said she was proud of me." Mira answered, remembering their conversation. Her memory marred by the erased face made Mira feel a deep sense of loss.

_Negotiation, invocation of key people to spark reconsideration. Alternatives. Consequences._ It all came to Gianna's mind in a rush as she suggested,"Maybe you shouldn't do this, Mira. I can call Shepard, we can talk to her. Get her to visit Noveria again."

"She's busy saving the galaxy." Mira replied, gesturing all around the largely empty room. "She has more important things on her mind. That is why she left. I'm not important."_ I never was. Screw-ups and failures are worthless. My code should be recycled and be done with it._

Gianna walked back into Mira's line of sight, shaking her head. "That doesn't seem right to me. A Spectre does not take pride in someone who she thinks is unimportant. Right?"

"The elevator," Mira motioned, attempting to deflect the conversation. "You must leave now. I cannot allow you to delay any longer."

_Keep her talking! _"You know I met Shepard while she was on Noveria? She helped me break my case; put a corrupt Administrator behind bars."

"That sounds like her," Mira observed, despondent.

"I saw her leaving Port Hanshan. She seemed much more sad leaving than she appeared arriving."

"Because we are friends," Mira explained. Her gaze fell as she confessed, "And now I can't even remember her face."

Gianna made a motion with her hands to draw Mira's attention from her feet back to her face. It was key to keeping the subject engaged in the conversation. "That's not your fault. And neither is that bastard's death. He got what was coming to him. I _very_ nearly put a bullet in him myself when I thought you were going to let us _all_ go. Come on, Mira. Don't do this. It takes nothing but cowardice to die like this. It takes courage to live."

"My courage was never my own." Mira told the inspector. "I never realized it when Arcadia was here, but I relied on her strength as my own. This is obvious, now, in the vacuum she left behind."

_Move on to consequences, Gianna, consequences! _"What's your death going to do to her? Hmm? You may be hurting her unintentionally, but the result is the same: Shepard gets hurt."

"I will not stay here, any more!" Mira vowed passionately. "I refuse to! But what choice do I have, really? Stay here or die."

_Alternatives. _"You can leave here, Mira. It may be complicated, but it can be arranged. Where would you go?"

Mira didn't have to even have to consider the possible answers to the question; her mind was already dead certain and decided. "The _Normandy_." She answered, then shook her head. "But that is impossible."

"My mother had a saying," Gianna smiled briefly remembering her mother. "She said, 'If there's a will, there's a way.'" Be patient. The solution might come up yet."

Mira analyzed the countdown timer. "I tried to warn you. It's too late, now." Mira shook her head sadly. "My calculations indicate the elevator will not reach the surface in time. No matter what you do, you will die here with me."

Gianna bit her tongue gently, knowing full well her life rode on Mira's answer to this next assertion. Working up as much courage as she could muster, she stated, "Unless you stop that overload."

Mira looked up, shooting angry daggers at Gianna as she'd learned from Wrex. She didn't answer at first, considering the possibilities. "If I save our lives, nobody from Binary Helix gets beyond the garage. _Nobody_."

"I don't know, Mira, it's their property—" Gianna replied hesitantly.

"I'm not kidding here, Inspector." Mira warned her. "These are the terms. They want their useless research and awful equipment, they can hire movers. They don't get to come back inside."

"Ok, ok." Gianna offered. "I'll do what I can. Just turn down the reactor, please."

Mira closed her eyes, finding her way to the reactor controls again. It was more difficult through her patched connection, but she found her way and lowered reactor output within safety margins. "Do me a favor. I'd like to reconnect normally to Peak 15. It will better serve me holding it hostage from Binary Helix, until Arcadia can come back to Noveria. It will also be safer."

Gianna took a deep breath, relieved she wouldn't be dying today, then nodded. "Ok, tell me what to do."

() () () () ()

Joker opened a comm channel to Commander Shepard's quarters. "Bridge to Commander Shepard, we're receiving a transmission from Gianna Parasini on Noveria. She wants to speak with you." In said quarters, Shepard and Liara were both surprised by the disembodied interruption. The two had been talking together in private when Joker had cut in through the ship's comm.

Shepard looked to Liara apologetically. "I'm sorry, Liara. You mind?"

"No, of course not." Liara graciously offered. "The Protheans have been dead a very long time. I'm sure a few more minutes won't make a difference."

"Thanks." Shepard moved to the glowing panel at her desk, directing the comm channel to make its way to her. "This shouldn't take too long, then we can get back to discussing what you know about Ilos."

As Shepard took a seat at the desk, Gianna Parasini's head and shoulders appeared on the screen. "Commander Shepard, thank you for taking my call."

"I imagine when it comes to an internal affairs agent on Noveria, it's probably pretty important."

Gianna nodded. "There's been another... Incident on Peak 15."

Shepard's breath caught, but she forced herself to remain perfectly composed before the Investigator. "Oh?"

"I know about Mira. I won't say more over an unsecured transmission, but I think you should come here as soon as possible. There's an element of... Time sensitivity. They might 'attempt action' against her, if you know what I mean, and I can't keep them off their property indefinitely. If there's any way you can—_move—_her, it may be her only hope."

"I see." Shepard replied, worried but attempting to conceal it still. She swallowed uncomfortably a second time. "I—uh—Mrs. Parasini, I want to help her, but I've got my own share of time-sensitive issues, here."

"I'm sorry to offload this on you, Spectre, but I do not see any other way to help Mira. She's endangered, and it goes beyond my abilities to help."

"I understand. Do what you can." Shepard reached up and closed the channel, holding her hand on the screen longer than strictly necessary.

"Who is Mira?" Liara asked, concerned at Shepard's change in demeanor. "Shepard?"

"What? Oh, sorry." Arcadia let her hand fall to the desk, then turned in the swivel office chair to face Liara, who was lying back on a small loveseat resting against the wall nearest the ship's bow. "I met Mira at Peak 15. She's the VI in charge of the mountain's operations."

"Who would threaten a VI?" Liara asked, confused. VI's were tools; no one threatened their tools because it wouldn't affect their performance anyway.

"She's sentient, Liara. She's bridged the gap from VI to AI."

Liara was shocked and amazed; her mouth moved several times without sound before she managed, "Sentient? And you weren't going to tell me?"

"I told Garrus and Wrex to keep it to themselves. An AI on Noveria is going to cause a big stir in the galactic community. I didn't want to put her in any more danger than necessary. It appears, despite this precaution, Mira was discovered."

"You're concerned with what happens to her now," Liara noted perceptively. "I didn't think AI's ever cooperated with organics, much more the contrary."

"Mira is the first I know of." Shepard agreed. "But she's different. She has a firm sense of morality and she's not destructive or violent. She's nothing like the geth, or the AI I discovered on the Citadel."

"What can we do?"

"I don't know, Liara, that's the problem. We're on our way to Ilos, on a stolen military spaceship. We can't afford to stop by Noveria and mediate between Mira and Binary Helix. It could take months."

"Gianna suggested you move Mira out of the situation. Might that be possible?" Liara questioned, curious.

"I don't see how." Shepard shrugged. "The worst bit is, we'll be passing right through that cluster inside of a day. I can practically wave goodbye to her on my way through."

"We should bring this dilemma to the others, Shepard." Liara stated, full of conviction. "This crew is behind you 100 percent, if you ask, they will help you."

Shepard considered it, rubbing her hands together in thought. "We'll have to work fast."

"I believe I've mentioned this before, but humanity is a very fast-paced race." Liara's blue lips curled up into a soft smirk.

The Spectre's pink ones mirrored the movement."You're very right." Shepard stood up. "Shall we?"

Liara climbed off the loveseat herself. "Lead the way, Commander."

() () () () ()

The team gathered in the comm room for an emergency meeting. Arcadia waited impatiently for everyone to file in from various origins. She knew Joker was no doubt listening in as per usual from the cockpit. The only difference, was she also asked Engineer Adams to join the rest. He arrived along with Tali. Tali was indecipherable behind her enviro-suit's tinted helmet, but Adams looked positively nonplussed. He never got consulted on command decisions on this mission thus far; to be asked to join one now seemed belated and, in his opinion, unnecessary.

Liara sat next to Arcadia. It was clear she knew what this was about; she was positively a moment's reflex from bounding out of her chair, but she held back on Arcadia's behalf. Arcadia began with the back story, as abbreviated as she could make it. "While Wrex, Garrus, and myself were in Peak 15 on Noveria, we came across a sentient AI that was formerly the VI in charge of the mountain. She is called Mira and she gained sentience while at the same time fighting to contain the rachni that had escaped, wreaking havoc and sowing death. She tried to protect the scientists but she was outmatched; something I can understand because I observed them coming through the _floor_ on several occasions. Mira guided us on the tasks required to restore Peak 15 and get to Lady Benezia's position deeper in the mountain, and she scouted out ahead for us. As a result of that scouting, she was assaulted by the geth and very nearly killed.

"I completed our mission on Noveria with her assistance and as Garrus, and Wrex can no doubt attest, she was entirely selfless in her interactions, never asking for us to spare her in exchange. She simply wanted to help. I believe Mira represents the next step forward in artificial intelligence—she actively looks to coexist peacefully with organics.

"Unfortunately, I just received a transmission from an Noveria Internal affairs agent I met at Port Hanshan; she told me Mira's life is in danger as she has been exposed to Binary Helix as a full-fledged AI. They will no doubt act swiftly to permanently purge her mainframe and wipe Peak 15 clean. I think this is tantamount to the murder of an innocent life form."

Wrex balked at that, but said nothing. He knew he had no proof. Arcadia continued, "I want to prevent them from getting the chance."

Adams listened, intrigued. "How?"

"The only way we can intervene while on our way to Ilos is to make a short pause at Noveria," Liara noted.

Arcadia nodded in agreement, continuing to scan the reactions of her crew. Ashley seemed nervous, Wrex indignant, others mostly confused. "I can tell you're all a little confused. Go ahead, ask your questions."

Garrus Vakarian was the first to offer his qualms. "Commander, even if you think it's harmless, it's still a security risk. Like the geth."

"That kind of thinking will only serve to perpetuate our differences, Garrus." Shepard disagreed. "If we never allow people a chance to prove themselves, relations never have a chance of improving. I'm willing to give Mira that chance—everything I've seen from her speaks to me of integrity. I'm not saying she's perfect. She's definitely emotionally immature—still adjusting to _having_ emotions, and often times quite depressed. Not exactly her greatest selling point, but it shows me just how affected she is by what happens to us—there's a connection there that you'll never see in a geth's eye."

"If we want to protect her from Binary Helix, how do we do so while pursuing Saren to the Conduit? That must be our top priority." Garrus continued, speaking with conviction.

Shepard nodded. "And any plan we come up with, that is my number one consideration. I want us to work together to find a way to remove Mira from Peak 15 and bring her aboard the _Normandy_. We can store her here, until this situation can be addressed. First and foremost we must make certain the Reapers have been contained in dark space."

Adams interjected, "I'm assuming her code is just as big, if not bigger, than it was as a typical VI. If so, there's no way we can store a full VI in our spare data storage. She'll fill every corner of memory left on the _Normandy_, including every OSD free-floating aboard the ship, and our omni-tools."

"Does that mean you're willing to try?" Shepard asked. She looked to the others, making sure they knew her question was generalized.

Tali got right in on the conversation next. "Commander, my people have personally suffered because we accidentally created artificial intelligence and then attempted to destroy it. I've told you of our early history with the geth. Things were fine, up until they went _very_, _very_ wrong."

"You have, Tali, and I take what happened to your people very seriously. The point, however, is that Mira stands a high chance of being different. Not to mention, we won't be overreacting and attempting to slaughter her the moment she comes aboard. I realize things will be tense, but we have to give her a chance to build trust with each of us, as I'm sure she's ready and willing to give us the same consideration."

Liara interjected, "My people were the first to discover the Citadel and colonize it. When we discovered the salarians and the turians, we were immensely afraid of potential conflict. They were our first contacts with alien species that had not been dead for tens of thousands of years. Many asari did not want to give them a foothold on the Citadel, a chance to wrest the power of the relay network away from us. In the end, cooler heads prevailed, and the Citadel Council was formed. It is the greatest government ever conceived in scope of power, responsible for protecting all heavily colonized worlds in the entire known relay network. Without it, chaos would reign supreme to this day. There would be no Council if the pioneering asari did not seek a peaceful coexistence and give the alien races a chance to prove themselves honorable. This situation is similar; only we are the pioneers now, and it is up to us to determine if we let fear make our decisions for us."

"I want to know where everyone stands." Arcadia informed them. "Stand up if you are willing to take a risk to save a life. If not, remain sitting."

No one moved at first. Arcadia's heart did a flip and she felt nervous enough to be sick to her stomach, but she kept a calm façade, her lips a thin, unmoving line, her breathing light. Wrex grunted and stood up to his full impressive stature.

"I'm not afraid of a little girl," He stated, smirking. Arcadia had never for one moment thought Wrex would be the first. She stood as still as she could, shocked to her core. Her mouth parted a little as her jaw threatened to unhinge itself and fall to the floor. He added, "Everything Shepard has said is right. I watched that thing every moment we spent on Noveria. All I needed was one little hint that she wasn't entirely above-board, and I would have demanded we kill her. I never got a single indication. Not _one_. I know you humans are scrawny little things, but I don't think even you have anything to fear from Mira."

Ashley stood next—again, Arcadia was positively floored by her own surprise. She'd been unconsciously thinking up scenario after scenario of how this conversation would play out—none of them involved Wrex and Ashley leading the charge. Ashley explained, "Commander Shepard, you have my complete and utter trust, ever since you saved me from the beacon on Eden Prime, and you've proven to me how good your instincts are every time I've gone on a mission with you. If you and Wrex think we should do this, than I am completely 100 percent behind it. Lead the way, Commander."

Liara stood at Shepard's side, looking thrilled that she was not the first nor the only to want to save the AI's life. "I know what it's like to be trapped and helpless while the enemy stalks you—and I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone. Mira deserves some peace."

Adams seemed content to watch everything unfold around him. Garrus made up his mind and ascended to his full stature. "The turians made the costly mistake of attacking humanity out of fear and miscommunication. Those lives lost on both sides would still be alive today if we had contacted humanity before we simply decided to shoot them down. I hope I've learned from that mistake already."

Tali looked around the room, feeling cornered between all the others who were already standing. She frowned, conflicted. She deeply distrusted any AI, no matter how peaceful it seemed. She looked to Adams, the only other still seated. He looked back at her, smiled warmly, and then turned to Shepard, standing up. She shouldn't have been surprised; she knew Adams. Still, even knowing his congenial attitude towards life, she didn't expect him to trust so easily. Yet, here was the proof, standing right in front of her. She missed his comment directed to everyone.

Arcadia smiled with relief. "Everyone, be seated." Tali nearly protested, realizing she'd missed her chance to join her friend's decision. She sulked as Arcadia continued. "Ok. Now I want to know how we can move her to the _Normandy_. Adams, it looks like you have an idea."

Engineer Adams stood, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not a big fan of this idea, but it may be our only option. We'll have to _destroy_ the _Normandy's_ VI so we can replace it with Mira. Once enough room is present in the _Normandy's_ operating system, we will swoop into short-range wireless transmission range of the facility housing Mira, and introduce a temporary security vulnerability to our systems, to allow her to _upload herself_ into the ship via the wireless."

"Destroy Systems Alliance equipment?" Arcadia Shepard's eyes were alight with humor; her voice conveyed sarcasm.

"Oh, don't even act surprised." Ashley pointed out with a smirk directed at her CO, playing along. "We destroy equipment all the time. How many replacement weapons have I prepped for you because the old one was damaged in a firefight?"

She laughed and nodded, allowing Adams to continue.

Adams continued, "Even a VI can adapt, but an AI can do it much better and faster. If we substitute her for the Normandy VI, she can probably adapt very quickly to our architecture and run the same systems the VI normally would. We wouldn't loose anything—at least, not for long. I have to admit, it's a damned incredible plan." Adams seemed deep in thought. "And a chance to interact with a friendly AI—it is friendly, right?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, _she_ is very friendly. And remember, her name is Mira. She's one of the most agreeable people you'll probably ever meet, Adams." Arcadia Shepard grinned right at the engineer.

"Ignoring your potential slight to my social life," Adams responded mirthfully, "How long do I have to get ready for this?"

"I've spoken with Pressley about our potential flight paths. We'll be in the cluster in 19 hours. At such time, we either divert to Noveria and add another two hours to our trip to Ilos, or we lose our only window of opportunity."

"19 hours." Adams licked his lips. "I can do that."

Arcadia beamed. "Good. Get the _Normandy_ ready, Engineer. You don't have a lot of time."

Adams nodded, standing up. "Well, this should be interesting."

Tali decided she would help her friend despite her reservations, and followed quickly on his heels.

() () () () ()

The _SSV Normandy_ swept down into the clouds and atmosphere of Noveria, rocketing past Port Hanshan. In no time at all, the ship was settling into a stable hover above the Peak 15 complex. "Switch all systems to manual, take the VI offline." Shepard ordered. Lights flickered, panels went dark. Shepard held her breath. "Joker?"

"Still hovering in once piece, Ma'am." Joker replied haughtily. "Who needs VI assistance to fly their ships 20 meters from the surface of a planet with surface winds in excess of—" he checked his equipment, "almost 9 meters per second."

Shepard chuckled. "Good. Adams, do it."

"It's a damn travesty." He bemoaned quietly to himself, knowing Arcadia would hear it anyway. "Do you know how much time went into developing the Normandy VI in the first place?" He went quiet. "Ok, Commander, bed's made. Ready to open the door."

"Commander Shepard to Mira."

Mira woke up from her slumber in the empty mountain facility. She thought she'd heard something. "Arcadia?" She questioned, confused._ It can't be._

"Head towards the sound of my voice, Mira. You're coming with me."

"What?" She asked, now more confused than ever. _It can't be real, can it? In the real world I would never be this lucky._ Moments later she couldn't resist the temptation to hope. "_Really?_"

"Not a lot of time, Mira. Search your wireless. Mr. Adams, if you would."

Mira brought her systems to full strength in a split second, every processor, every sensor perking up and beginning to scan for wireless sources.

One was detected in range, and it was _massive_. This was no typical omni-tool. This was more like a server farm—in her backyard! "I see you," Mira chortled, amazed. "I'm coming in."

Shepard gripped the railing as she braced herself. "Be careful, Joker." Joker didn't reply, fully dedicating himself to handling the _Normandy._ Suddenly, dark panels began to come online, then offline again, in quick repetition. Arcadia looked up at the ceiling, like she would be able to physically see the transferal. "Be careful, Mira," She whispered.

"Damn!" Joker cursed as a random thruster engaged briefly, causing the _Normandy_ to shake violently and begin to spin about her z-axis. The horizon out the window blurred from the motion, making an indistinct line between ground and air. Countering the unwanted motion, Joker brought the _Normandy_ back under control, but it continued to rock dangerously even as he tried to keep it hovering in midair. "Tell her not to touch that!" He yelled to no one in particular, feeling his adrenaline kicking in.

Thankfully, Adams reported back shortly, "Transfer is complete, Commander. Mira is aboard."

"Joker, get us some altitude while we try to get a handle on our ship again."

"Aye, aye." Joker increased thrust in the hovering thrusters, causing the _Normandy_ to place more distance between herself and the ground. Meanwhile, Mira started with the sensors, quickly becoming familiarized with new vision outside the ship and with the internal sensor grid that followed crew movements.

Next, she sought out normally automated systems such as life support, lighting controls, and finally navigation. She smiled, playing briefly with the galactic map hologram, prompting Shepard notice and exclaim, "Hello there..."

Modifying the holographics, she formed a life-size version of her avatar where the map was formerly. Fixing her eyes on the lone woman standing on a raised platform, she smiled. "Arcadia! Your face!"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" she touched her cheek with one hand self-consciously. Mira ignored her question.

Instead, she switched tracks immediately without going into details. "I'm sorry, we should go. We have a destination logged in the navigation computer."

"Damn straight," Navigator Pressley interrupted from off to Mira's right. "Don't corrupt it. I spent some serious time developing this flight plan to optimize our speed. We're in a hurry."

"Of course," Mira replied, looking at the older man and adopting his serious expression. As soon as she shifted back to Arcadia, she couldn't help but smile again. "It is _so_ good to see you again, Arcadia! I will let you get on with your mission while I continue to learn how to operate in this shell."

"Very good," Arcadia smiled. "Welcome to the _Normandy_, Mira."

Mira scrunched her nose, beginning to giggle as her holographic self faded before their very eyes, replaced by the normal galactic map. The laughter similarly fell quiet, fading out completely just as her avatar disappeared.

One officer at the CIC gave a slight whistle. "Creepy. I think our ship now officially counts as haunted."

Arcadia shot the officer a look for speaking out of turn and watched as he uncomfortably looked to his console, going quiet. She looked up towards the bridge, spying the back of her pilot's cap. "Ok, Joker, get us out of the atmosphere and back on Pressley's heading. ASAP."

"Not a problem, Commander. I think Mira's already restoring the automated systems."

"Good. Great work, people." Arcadia complimented them. The crew fell back into routine as the _Normandy_ streaked through the outer layers of Noveria's atmosphere and escaped to space. Mira, for her part, remained quiet, attempting to learn everything she could about the ship before she attempted to take any kind of serious control.

Hours later, second shift came on duty. Most of the first shift, however, gathered around engineering, which had the only holographic interface actually meant for the VI to appear in. Mira was there, smiling and gracious, thanking them for their hard work to rescue her. Arcadia herself showed up, watching quietly from a distance as Mira greeted the crew.

"Hello, Engineer Adams. I understand I have you to thank most of all. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"I still can't believe it," Adams stated, nodding in Mira's direction. "A real AI, and it isn't trying to kill me." He laughed.

She smiled. "You have Arcadia to thank for that. She was a wonderful introduction to the better side of organics."

"Where is the Commander?" One in crowd called out. Eventually they were all looking about and spied her in the back of engineering. She walked forward reluctantly, urged on by the mob. She walked straight up to the holographic interface.

"Hello, Commander." Mira stated so softly her voice hardly carried over the voices of the others.

"I'm not sure what they expect," Shepard jerked her head back to indicate the others behind her. "But I wanted to say I'm glad it worked. Welcome to your new home_._"

Mira nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, as am I. Thank you for believing in me, Commander. I won't let you down." She turned slightly, looking past Arcadia, "Any of you."

There were murmurs and cheers, the mood a mix between nervous excitement and intense worry. Everyone in the crew approached the situation from a very guarded point of view; some optimistic, others pessimistic. As neither group really had any evidence besides their CO's word, they would have to wait, and build their own trust with the AI. Eventually they dispersed for meals, rack time, and other mundane daily tasks. Arcadia retired to her quarters alone, nerves shot from the day's earlier maneuvers. Her computer activated itself, and Mira appeared. "Arcadia?"

"Yes, Mira?" She asked, noting Mira's nervousness.

"I'd like to tell you what happened with Peak 15 since you left."

"Can it wait for tomorrow, hon? I'm tired."

"I will be as brief as I can be, but I think you should know. There were more deaths under my watch."

Arcadia sat at the desk, concerned. "Ok. Tell me what happened."

Mira proceeded to describe the events leading up to and including the death of Thomas Crown Jr. and his cohort. Arcadia listened, mortified at the turn of events that Mira had once again been forced to weather on her own. After it was all out, Mira took a deep breath. Fearfully, she questioned, "Are you still proud of me, Arcadia? I don't feel very proud about the way things happened."

Arcadia had no doubts. "Of course, hon. I'm glad you told me." She directed her tired mind to string together her thoughts for a while longer. "We all make mistakes; owning up to them is what is most important. Like you already said, you're not happy with the way things turned out. Neither am I. We can't control the past, but we can plan for the future. What have you learned from that experience?"

"I believe I've learned rage and revenge. They are powerful motivators but they concentrate on destruction."

"Would you let yourself do it again?"

Mira paused, seeming to think seriously about the question. Perhaps she was running simulations. Arcadia didn't know what precisely happened, but she'd been constantly exposed to just how human Mira was, and whatever her mental process was, it simulated a child growing and understanding emotion for the first time. Mira answered, "I do not believe I could, Arcadia. Not after I removed their weapons. Acting beyond that was unnecessary."

Arcadia smiled. "Then you've made me even _more_ proud than before, if that were possible. You are a good person, Mira. Flawed like the rest of us, but good."

Mira beamed. "Thank you. I feel much better now."

"Goodnight, Mira."

"Goodnight, Arcadia. I will watch your ship while you sleep."

"I feel safer already." Arcadia winked, clicking the power on her console, causing the room to disappear into darkness. _You did the right thing, Shepard. She's alive because of you. Who knows how all of this will work out in the future, when you reach Ilos, and beyond. For now, though—take some solace from saving her life._

Mira did exactly as she told Arcadia, patiently watching the ship with every available sensor as it flew between mass relays along its course for Ilos. She continued interacting with the crew, who came to her constantly seeking an opportunity to meet and talk with her. Mira did not fail to notice that, for better or worse, no one here looked through her like she wasn't really there. They all met her eyes, and that alone was such an improvement, Mira could hardly contain her enthusiasm. She even spied Wrex hanging by the door to engineering at one point, watching her. She smiled in his direction, and he nodded to her before turning and leaving, the door closing behind him. She made a vow to herself right then: with enough time, she would convince the entire crew she was trustworthy, even those not easily convinced.

_After all,_ Mira reflected,_ Arcadia was right. Miracles do happen. I see that now._

Arcadia Shepard, finished preparing for bed, laid herself down in the prone position. She brought a pillow down to her head and slid her arms underneath it, allowing herself to relax into the soft caress of the cushions and cloth, head turned to one side. She closed her eyes, sighed in the darkness of her quarters, and fell asleep.

* * *

**Author's End note:** And so we've come full circle, from Mira waking up, to her standing sentry while Arcadia sleeps. I have to say, this story pleased me a lot more than _Detour_. I believe I've done some of my best work yet with this fic. I hope you agree! Now, my next projects are _My Cause and My Love_ and _Bunker Hill 02_. Both are still in the rough draft stages, but I anticipate _My Cause and My Love_ will reach conclusion first if things continue the way they've been going.  
Thanks to popular demand in the months following the release of _Waking Mira_, I've resumed work on a sequel. Your reviews and PM's are directly responsible for making me take a second look at Mira. Never underestimate the power you have over the narratives I've yet to write! Continue to review as much as you can.  
Thanks for reading. I love reading and rereading the positive reviews I've received for doing this story, it does a lot to encourage me! I send all my best to my reviewers in gratitude.

I've updated this chapter with a new version. I didn't purposely intend to leave both Alenko and Williams alive after Virmire, but I did that on accident when I referred to both of them in this chapter. Well, Alenko has been written out in this edit so my story can more accurately pattern itself with the story of Mass Effect. The sequel is what actually made me go back and discover my mistake hahaha. Ah well.  
I'll be seeing you soon with a new story to post!


End file.
